Audio transcription

Longing to escape the dead end that seems to loom before them, a young woman in Algiers reads Kafka and Chester Himes while her boyfriend dreams of immigrating to Europe. Finally, they enlist the services of a smuggler to take them to Italy. In his first feature film, Teguia integrates kitchen-sink realism and modernist fragmentation to depict a contemporary Algeria growing restive in a world crisscrossed by flows of labor, capital and desire. With sober long takes of domestic situations and Godardian interruptions of text on screen, Teguia rejects the melodrama that often imbues Arab and French cinema about northern Africa. Throughout, Teguia’s frequent camera movement and the charismatic performances of its two lead actors bring the film to piquant life.