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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
Honestly? Probably not. Unless you are the kind of person who spends their weekends hunting down obscure, crumbling relics from the early days of cinema, you might find Sirocco a bit of a slog. It’s for the historians and the truly bored. If you want something snappy or fun, go watch Flying High instead.
The whole thing feels like it was filmed in a sandbox. There is a lot of squinting into the sun and dramatic posing that makes you wonder if anyone knew what to do with their hands when they weren't holding a sword or a shawl.
The storyteller framing device is a nice thought, I guess. It tries to give the movie this epic, legendary feel. But it mostly just makes the actual story feel smaller, like someone reading you a book you’ve already heard a thousand times before.
Leila Atouna does her best with the damsel role, but there’s only so much you can do when the script keeps asking you to look distressed near a stone wall. There is a moment where she just stands there for an uncomfortable amount of time, staring at a desert horizon, and I started checking my watch. I think the camera operator got bored too, because the shot drifts just a little bit to the left.
It lacks the spark you find in better stuff like Riley the Cop. It’s not that the movie is "bad" in an offensive way, it’s just… tired. It feels like it was exhausted before they even yelled action on the first day. Sometimes the pacing is so slow you can hear the film grain humming.
If you like movies that take themselves way too seriously, you might get a kick out of this. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything. 🏜️