I'm a big fan of the original Italian movie to an extent that I can memorize all of its dialogues and reactions, so I was extremely excited as an Arab to see this movie.
What's wrong with this Arabic version? Well, the overall ambiance and cinematography were so good, with some interesting adjustments ( the traditional Arabic dishes for example) , the actors fitted perfectly with their original peers, but this wasn't enough unfortunately. Mona Zaki's performance was horrible with all that screaming and overreacting, she ruined the whole movie. The reactions were immature, you keep waiting for the characters to express a specific feeling, but they fail to do so. In general, it's not even comparable to the Italian movie and I still wonder how can Nadine Labaki be involved in such a movie without being the director? Pretty sure she could take it to another level of proficiency if she was the director.
What's wrong with this Arabic version? Well, the overall ambiance and cinematography were so good, with some interesting adjustments ( the traditional Arabic dishes for example) , the actors fitted perfectly with their original peers, but this wasn't enough unfortunately. Mona Zaki's performance was horrible with all that screaming and overreacting, she ruined the whole movie. The reactions were immature, you keep waiting for the characters to express a specific feeling, but they fail to do so. In general, it's not even comparable to the Italian movie and I still wonder how can Nadine Labaki be involved in such a movie without being the director? Pretty sure she could take it to another level of proficiency if she was the director.