Wolfram My Writing Reviews Film 45th SFIFF Far Away (Loin)

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Far Away (Loin)

Far Away is about three days in the lives of a group of charactures who are involved in vague plots of smuggling and love. The suburb cinematography of Germain Desmoulins is a delight to watch. His still frames allow eyes to wander all over his excellent visual compositions.

Three languages are spoken in the film, at least, and there is a wonderful blend of culture to be seen.

The film focuses on so many charactures, however, that I found it difficult to become involved with any of them. Unfortunately, the film felt like a giant soap opera to me. Had the story focused on any one or two of the charactures, I feel it could have been better. Instead, Far Away is a mosaic of many people's stories, which makes the movie take a long time to develop. The end result is that each of the stories fights with the others for my attention.

Still, Far Away is a worthwhile film about boarders and cultures. And even though it rambles along to an adequate ending, the film has some highly redeeming qualities -- most notably the cinematography. Far Away takes you there -- far away -- to the coast of Tangier and to the lives of the people who live at that port.

Credits:
Country: France/Spain
Year: 2001
Run Time: 120 minutes
Cast: Stéphanie Rideau, Lubna Azabal, Mohamed Hamaidi, Yasmina Reza, Jack Taylor
Producer: Saïd Ben Saïd
Editor: Hervé de Luze
Cinematographer: Germain Desmoulins
Screenwriter: André Téchiné, Faouzi Bensaïdi

This Film Was Viewed at the 45th San Francisco International Film Festival