Couscous

-- kk ll nn

Couscous is astonishing,moving,transforming,emotionally exhausting-yet uplifting.

You endure ersatz Hollywood where art distorts life [and never holds the saccharine]-and not realise how false and untrue it is -until you savour a delectable slice-of-life served up so brilliantly in the movie 'Couscous'.

True,it it long -150 minutes-but it contains some of the best ensemble acting ever screened and individual performances of extraordinary virtuosity-the tired much-put-upon dignity of the pater familias and the unstoppable exuberance and luminous passion of the daughter-in-law[Hafsia Herzi] -two generations of the brawling,struggling Tunisian immigrant family in the Mediterranean port of Sete in France

And if you are an academic in the field of the cultural assimilation of displaced,reviled immigrant communities-this movie 'Couscous'will teach your budding PhD's more about the subject than all the worthy standard sociologic tomes.And-better still- they will be intensely moved.But if the are not-advise them to take up accountancy.

Fantastic film - highly atmospheric - great cinematography. Feel part of a North African French community. Smell and taste the life.

I would add to what was said before that it's probably not a waste of 2 and a half hours of anyone's life, but more like 3 or 4 - for a movie that could have been easily made 1 hour maximum. Each scene takes ages: people repeating over and over the same stuff. At a certain point, we would just put fast forward, as there was no reason to watch the entire scene normal speed. The end is totally pointless. Good idea, could have been a great movie, but they just went too far with their "wanna-be artist" attitude and just came out wrong.

Couscous was turgid, dreary, depressing, irritating, self indulgent, uninteresting, pointless. In my opinion, a complete waste of 2 1/2 hours of anyone's life.

Couscous is a simple documentary about the decline of the French fishing industry and the various issues would have been less tedious than this overlong piece of improvisation.

Sorry to sound so fed up, but it's been a long time since I walked out of a film early, and I've seen "The Weeping Camel" and "Bombon El Perro".