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| City of Life (2009) Film Poster |
City of Life (2009) is an Emirati (UAE)
realistic film directed by Ali. F. Mostafa in 2009. It is a realistic film
because it has real people with real problems. It has negatives and positives
both. But negative is a little. The film is produced by Leigh Clarke, Ali. F.
Mostafa, Tim Smythe and Tanya Wagner.
The film is starred by Alexandra Maria a Romanian-German actress as
Natalia Moldovan, Jason Glemyng an English actor as Guy Berger, Sonu Sood an
Indian actor as Basu/Peter Patel, Natalie Dorman a British actress as Olga,
Saoud Al Kaabi an Emirati actor as Faisal, Yassin Alsalman (Narcy) an Emirati
actor (well as Iraqi-Canadian journalist) as Khalfan, Javed Jaffrey an Indian
actor as Suresh Khan and some other Emirati actors. The background music is composed
by Matthew Faddy and barry Kirsch. The cinematographer of the film is Michael
Brierley. The film is edited by Raul Skopecz. The film is released on 11
December, 2009 in Dubai. It is a multilingual film and has Arabic, English and
Hindi language.
Review:
Ali F. Mostafa is a British-Emirati
filmmaker. It is his first Emirati feature film. His second film’s name is Worthy(2017). I never watched an Emirati film. City of Life
(2009) is the first film I have watched ever. Very film and contents and
director’s filmmaking style are totally different from others. Ali F. Mostafa
is the lively example. At first, I have started watching the film; the
beginning. Specially, the background music attracted me extremely. I thought
the music is good hearable. It has a power to describe the real problems and
emotions. I thought it the title background music of the film. The film is
filled with real problems and real problems. Every society faces with different
problems. So, Dubai the cosmopolitan city in United Arab Emirates is not
different from it. The film narrates three kinds of different lives’ living
taking different careers and unexpected tragedy and loss lead to hope and
profound transformation. In Dubai, many ethnic and man of different class work
for living and family. In this film, Emirates, English and Indians are shown
alike. There are some negatives and positives positions in the film these are
belittling the city, many criticize that. But director has stated that in New
York or London, there are some negative problems in the societies. There are
negative and positive both problems in Dubai. He just upholds the real
problems. But Dubai is a liberal or cosmopolitan city. And the ending part of
the film is the perfect example.
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| Natalie Dormer and Alexandra Maria Lara in City of Life (2009) |
Acting:
Acting of the performers is natural. So,
it is a kind of non-fiction film. As the casting is realistic and the social
problems are realistic and the directed has wanted to show the problems of the
society in a realistic way, So, I would say it is a realistic film. There are
some action scenes but they are also based on naturalism. It is an excellent
casting.
Background Music:
At the beginning part of the film the
background music is just extra ordinary. It is attractive to hear and it seems
it is a kind of cultural music that is connected with the life of different kinds
of working people in the WUE. An excellent background music I have heard ever.
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| Ali F. Mostafa British-Emirati Filmmaker of City of Life (2009) |
Emotion:
Director has played with the spectators
in the film by emotion so that the audiences can receive it with their mind. So,
it will attract them emotionally. Actually the emotional scenes or the scenes
of hard times of the working people have attracted the audiences mostly. It has
three different geographical working people; Emirati, English and Indian. The director
has shown the mind and professions differently. But he has upheld the English
and Emirati characters’ scene something negative and Indians’ totally
positively. I hope the audiences will capture it intellectually.
Technical support:
I
think the cinematography and editing are also an important job in this film. I won’t
give more importance about color. But lighting is another important one. However,
director’s filmmaking style is something different with his shot divisions,
set, music, casting and editing from other contemporary directors. It’s his another
great achievement.
In a word City of Life (2009) is a great work of
Ali. F. Mostafa though Worthy(2017) is another good work. He is reviewed mostly
with the criticism of his City of Life (2009).