The modern day Egypt is the main character of this epic. It seems to be a tumultuous place never sure if it wants to be in the West or East. The director of this interesting movie tackles quite a few controversial topics. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism, homosexuality, the poor treatment of women in contemporary Egyptian society, the rampant corruption, still powerful strict class system. Enough topics for a dozen movies, but the director somehow manages to pull it all together. Some of the story lines feel a bit rushed to its conclusion, but all in all an interesting glimpse at modern Arab world. Its people are like any other, scared and imperfect and a bit lost in the complexities of life.

Imagine when the bestselling novel(Alaa el Aswany's Yacoubian Building) in the middle east is made into a movieWith an adaptation made by "Wahid Hamed"(the best screen writer in Egypt), and starring actors like :Adel Imam, Nour el Sheriff, Yousra...etc. , And the rising director and highly recommended "Marwan Hamed" which was his first movie. And let us not forget the huge budget that was set for the movie(about 22 million Egyptian pounds). All those elements were gathered to present a movie that was supposed to be a worldwide award winning movie or let us say a highly artistic movie. Unfortunately that wasn't enough!, all what I've seen in this movie wasn't so special, nothing spectacular, although the issues this film dealt with were hot and controversial for the Arab world I felt nothing.The movie talks about Egypt in the 1990's through yacoubian building which was supposed to be luxurious building in the past and still until now but not as much as in the past where some characters whom you can really see in our society, like Zaki el Desouky who's a 60 year old playboy who lives in yacoubian building with his sister in the same apartment and they are always fighting and yelling each other, Zaki also misses how this country was clean and beautiful even more than European countries he is also astonished about what's going on in the society when El Haj Azzam who used to polish his shoes one day owns half of the stores in his neighborhood now and lives in the same building with him, and is a part of the Egyptian parliament!! While el Haj Azzam takes advantage of the economical situation of a young widow whom her husband died in Iraq and marries her secretly because of some sexual need, he also enters the parliament to protect his dirty business.We also see the homosexual editor in chief of a french newspaper in Egypt "Hatem Rashid" who seduces a villager soldier, we see how this guy lives secretly in a society that cannot bear such a direction and how he reacts towards teasing from others about his homosexuality and the huge guilt the villager soldier "Abd Rabbo" feels due to his religious beliefs.There's also "bousaina" who loves "Hassan" her neighbor and they cannot afford to get married, after the dreams of "Hassan" of becoming a Police officer were gone because of his social level, they separate and select different paths in life; he becomes a religious extremist and she uses her body to get what she needs in life. This is a brief summary of the movie which dealt with a lot of characters without you being really sympathized with them!, despite the good acting the movie needed better adaptation, you feel like it's talking about a lot of things but they don't really touch you, most people in Egypt were impressed by the sparkling names of actors and the controversial issue the movie failed to discuss, I think this movie was a heavy load for "Marwan Hamed" as his first experience he didn't show much of a special vision and couldn't manage the script his father wrote,other big names could have done this project and make a huge difference. watching this movie isn't a 100% bad idea it's a chance for those who don't know much about Egypt to take a look about what's happening in there but it will not satisfy them as a film.

That's what I felt after watching that movie, it's really close to the society and the public's pulse, some overestimation is there but through comic frame, you'll enjoy watching that movie Marwan Hamed is not an ordinary director, he is one of the best around. i have never seen such a movie that tackles every issue in the Egyption society so honestly. it is a pure masterpiece and if i was running the Oscars then that movie will sure receive one. A movie so honest and directed, it is designed for all classes describing the social corruption in todays society - not only in Egypt but all around the world. if you miss this movie then you will spend your entire life regretting it so i advice every Arabic and non-Arabic speaker to watch the masterpiece and enjoy the art of this marvelous director whom i have a great respect for. two thumps up

Yes indeed,i expected this movie to be better than this..it's a good movie but it's not supposed to be just good,it's supposed to be excellent because it's portraying a wonderful book and with a gorgeous huge cast. The book was better in relating characters and analyzing them,i know that the book has a better space to do that and that the movie had a limited time,although it was 3 hours long,but still the movie gave much on screen space to some stories that weren't that deep like Adel Emam's story and little time to more deep and important ones like terrorism in Mohamed Emam's story and Gayness in Khaled El Sawy's story. The casting and acting were very good except for Tamer Abd El Men'em who was very annoying and not fit for his role! Also Adel Emam was not that good although he finally played a role that fits his age. New people in the movie like Bassem Samra{i guess that's his name!} and Mohamed Emam were great,especially the first. Best acting was by Khaled El Sawy who played Hatem Rasheed,the gay journalist..he was perfect and deep unlike Youssif Sha'ban in "Hamam El Malatili",who was very naive and stupid!! i'd give Khaled El Sawy a 10/10. Also Is'ad Youniss,although her role was small,whenever she appeared on screen,she just entertained me. Khaled Saleh was gorgeous as usual as Kamal El Shaz.. i mean Kamal El "Fuly" lol The Montage was absolutely terrible! that's all i can say about it. I think it's a very good Egyptian movie that deals with the real Egyptian society and it must be seen. Finally,i applause for Ali Abo Shady for not cutting anything out of the movie.