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Bashtaalak sa'at (Arabic) [Shall I Compare You To A Summer's Day?]

By Golu
This is an experimental queer musical film that uses opera/documentary and other styles to explore gay relationships and polyamory in a contemporary Arab context. The film’s artistic, nonlinear narrative incorporates a combination of live action, animation and music video-style sequences, along with more than its share of sexually explicit sequences. Even though I found the style and experiment quite interesting, including the narratives but overall I wasn't sure why this was made. In the sense that it had interesting representation of urban gay life and relationships but it was very confusing and one of those art for art's sake pieces.

A glance leads to a smile, a smile to a rendezvous: every love story begins the same way. At the center of it all, from what I understood, this Arab love story is about a group of men trying to navigate a polyamorous relationship. Three men in a relationship and what each oof them thinks about it, how they got into it, how the meetings happened, what the other person thought, the communication that happened or didn't happen is all talked through various montages and monologues. There is never a straight forward conversation. In between all this, we have all kinds of other monologues from guys on how they met their lover, their hook up ,what happened later etc etc.

Filmed against green screens that allow for a joyous color palette, the central narrative of three lovers and the tensions of polyamorous relationships is interlaced with homoeroticized traditional fantasies (like mermen), dialogues about flirtatious encounters, and renditions of Egyptian and Lebanese songs. Animation, drag performers, stereotyped porn scenarios (photographer and model, mechanic and client) and a moving monologue to a dead lover are entwined in a manner that speaks to the fulness of queer Arab communities. The film celebrates sexuality by making it both familiar and sexy, whether through physical encounters or a dialogue about the sparks generated by a casual meeting at a party. Even though rooted in Egyptian culture, the stories all sound very familiar like descriptions of parties, the self-analysis and emotional vulnerability. The central story, of a guy whose preference for polyamorous relationships creates tensions with his two lovers, is universal but made region-specific by language, song and cultural markers, ensuring a recognizable form of representation that’s more than refreshing, it’s revolutionary. This is an intriguing mix of artistry, eye candy and camp, though the lack of a more unified narrative can be a tad frustrating. Thankfully it is just over an hour, but will clearly not be everyone's cup of tea. I myself was frustrated at times but somehow the visual representation, the songs all kept my interest. Perhaps the best way to enjoy this one is to simply sit back and let this one wash over you and not think it too much. (5.5/10)
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