

Director: Josef Fares
Cast: Imad Creidi, Antoinette Turk, Viktor Axelsson

This film was submitted by Sweden for Oscar 2006 foreignfilms category.

Synopsis:
The film is kind of semi-autobiographical of the director's own experience. The first half tells of a young boy's life in Beirut, Lebanon ... The second half tells of his life in Sweden ... I really think to say anything more would give the story away ... hee hee

My thoughts ...
-- For those who like ... there are a few scenes which might be kind of dreamlike ... but for those who do not like ... these scenes may detract from the style of a serious drama ...
e.g., the talking chicken ...
(quite interesting ... hmmm ... do you remember when you were young?! do you ever talk to animals and toys?! and assume they do talk too?! )
e.g., the dream sequences ...

-- Two scenes will likely wrench the audience heart ...
(i) the scenes of war
(ii) the scenes of him trying to fit into the new environment ... and this contrasts with his original eagerness to go to Sweden when he was in Lebanon ...

-- In terms of casting, I think the chemistry among the three kids when they were young are good ... also, I guess most people will find the grandfather very funny ... hee hee

-- In terms of choreography, i like several of the scenes 
e.g., how the sky or stars changes ... 
e.g., how some scenes change from one to another

-- It also has a nice soundtrack ...

What could be better ...
-- Given the difficulty of shuffling between funny moments and sad moments, it is not easy to be totally consistent or consistently engaging ...

-- In terms of relationship, it is assumed but never explained why the bond between him and his mother is so much stronger than he and his family ... (i am okay with it though) ... Also, the young boy thinks of the girl (Rita) more often than he does of his friends (Amin, etc) in Lebanon whom he spent most of his time with ... hmmm ... is it because of the adolescence age? or is it because he met her during the war? or the director has accidentally forgotten to highlight the boy's thoughts about his friends ...

Conclusion:
- Recommended. However, given the difficulty of shuffling between funny moments and sad moments, it is not easy to be totally consistent or consistently engaging ... 

Nonetheless, the film is well done and most important of all, it really has a good take away (or lessons learnt) ... about life ...