Costa Brava, Lebanon

Mounia Akl's film tackles an important and underdiscussed aspect of an important subject. How do you persist as people, as a family, when the world seems to be falling apart around you?

Part family drama, part political statement, it asks at what point isolation becomes a selfish choice instead of a protective one, and if it’s possible to love your country but also hide from it.

Working with powerhouse performances from Oscar-nominated Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki and Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, Mounia Akl comes out swinging as the next big thing in Middle Eastern cinema.

Akl, making her directorial debut, takes resourceful advantage of her freedom as a filmmaker, creating some startling effects.

Akl's assured direction captures the promise of wanting change as well as the disappointment of not quite knowing how to achieve it.

A smart and sensitive film.

To flee or to resist? That’s the dilemma faced by self-imposed ‘prisoners’ in another tough wrestle with a corrupt political system.

Not a lot happens, and this dissatisfaction may become a bit repetitive throughout the movie, but each well-drawn character offers a different view on the question of how people want to live their lives.

A cautionary environmental fable where complex family dynamics and unresolved trauma threaten to destroy an idyllic paradise. [Full Review in Spanish]

Snail-paced drama of a family that movies from Beirut to the Lebanese sticks.