A Citizen, a Detective & a Thief

The complicated, almost surrealistic plot of Egyptian filmmaker Daoud Abdel Sayed's comedy-drama-musical revolves around the three title characters. One is a well-to-do young would-be novelist, who sets the story in motion when he visits the police to report a stolen car. The second is a rotund, garrulous detective at the station, who—unasked—hires a young housekeeper for the writer. The third is the husband of the newly employed woman, a singing ex-con who ends up with the stolen manuscript of the budding author's book. What works best in the colorful confusion that ensues from all this is the satire of government corruption and inefficiency, culminating in the inept detective's rise to power in what's simply described as “the ruling party.” But much of the rest of the plot, which ends with a fairy tale camaraderie among the characters, is both opaque and overly cute, while the arch narration that periodically intrudes (as well as the unconscionably long musical numbers for Shaaban Adbel Rehim, who plays the thief) is particularly grating. All told, this is an intriguing effort from an area of the world whose pictures don't reach American shores often enough, but it's also very uneven. Optional. (F. Swietek)