Lebanese-born writer and director Ziad Doueiri's second film is a striking departure from his feature debut, WEST BEIRUT (1998), set in the war-torn Beirut of his youth. Adapted from
Lila dit ca, a controversial novel in the form of a memoir, purportedly scrawled in two notebooks by a North African teenager credited pseudonymously as "Chimo," it's an uplifting fable about the power of hope cloaked in the conventions of high-toned smut: the girlish but X-rated talk, panting shots of bare-legged, underage sugar-cookie Lila (Vahina Giocante) on her bicycle and the leering threat of sexual violence spun as scorching social commentary. Nineteen-year-old Chimo (Moha...
Released:
2004
Rated:
NR
Length:
89 mins