Makhazane el ochak: A dusty, dramatic relic

Is it worth the watch?

If you like movies that feel like a play recorded on a soundstage, you’ll probably find something to dig into here. It is definitely for the crowd that prefers slow, heavy dialogue over actual movement. If you need pacing, skip this entirely; it makes The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog look like an action flick.

Ezzat Eljahly and Muhammad Kamal El-Masri are doing a lot of heavy lifting. Sometimes they look like they’re waiting for a cue that never came. Other times, they just stand there and let the shadows do the talking.

The Vibe Check

There is this one scene—I think it’s about forty minutes in—where the lighting just gets weird. It’s like the lamp operator was experimenting with a new mood, but it mostly just made everyone’s forehead look shiny. It stays like that for way too long.

Honestly, the whole movie feels like it’s struggling to breathe. It’s got that specific, dry weight to it. You can almost hear the floorboards creaking under the actors' feet if you turn the volume up high enough. It’s not smooth, but there’s a certain charm in how clearly dated it feels.

• The dialogue is incredibly formal.
• Some of the reactions are just plain bizarre.
• The set pieces feel like they were painted yesterday, but in a bad way.

It reminds me a bit of the stuffy tension in The Divine Woman, but without the same kind of visual grace. It just keeps pushing its own agenda of 'drama' until you’re just nodding along, waiting for something—anything—to break the cycle.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it a way to spend a rainy afternoon if you’re bored of modern stuff? Sure, I guess. Just don't expect it to change your life. 🎞️