The presence of Sherif Arafa's name may be enough to direct a work of art to contribute to doubling his chances of success, which is what actually happened with his latest movie "The Crime", which managed to achieve more than 16 million Egyptian pounds ($1.02 million) in its first days of showing in cinemas, This outperforms the films shown in the current movie season.
visual distinction
The commercial plot chosen by Sherif Arafa, and the diversity of the film between excitement and horror, in addition to some few comic scenes, and its reliance on the stardom of the film’s heroes such as Ahmed Ezz, Menna Shalaby and Majed Al-Kidwany;
Among the distinctive elements in the work, in addition to the visual element that distinguishes the directorial "Arafa's technique", and the lighting that added suspense and excitement to the horror scenes.
The film also provided visual diversity through the decoration, which showed the difference between the different times during which the events of the film revolve, especially the interior scenes that highlight the seventies of the last century, unlike the external scenes at the same stage that ignored the details of the seventies.
loss of credibility
The costumes were a distinguishing element in favor of the film, unlike the makeup, which seemed successful at first, but lost the scenes of the heroine, "Mena Shalaby", credibility while she was inside the room in which the husband imprisoned her as a punishment for her betrayal. It was performed by Ahmed Ezz and Majed Al-Kidwani in the oldest age group, with good luck.
The idea of the film seems lost between the psychological struggle experienced by Adel Al-Nadori (Ahmed Ezz) and reality (communication sites)
Double the dramatic justifications
Despite Sherif Arafa's attempt to present a coherent dramatic structure, and his reliance on the heroic narrator of the events and "flashback", in addition to the multiplicity of times, and the mixture of hallucinations experienced by the hero and reality;
This did not save the script from the slow pace, but on the contrary weakened the dramatic justifications that often came directly and were repeated by the heroes more than once to add a state of boring to the events of the film.
Sherif Arafa’s insistence in his recent experiences that he become the co-director of the work with Amin Gamal and Muhammad Mahrez did not favor the artworks. Rather, his participation was disappointing, especially as he is a director with a rich artistic history and a distinguished visual vision;
The flaw in the script spoiled all the distinguishing elements of the work.
faded characters
The script also failed in drawing the dramatic characters, as most of them were faint, so it focused only on the hero of the movie, "Adel Al-Nadouri", the character that Ahmed Ezz succeeded in presenting, moving away from the light-hearted characters that he used to present in his previous works.
Menna Shalaby also succeeded in presenting the various emotions of the character, as she is the reckless girl, the mother, the traitorous wife, and the controlling daughter, but despite that, the character's actions throughout the events of the film seemed unjustified, so the work makers resorted to justifying her behavior in a direct and naive scene to a large extent, which wasted the effort that It made him a "mention" in character.
The rest of the characters were faded and without details, so the work did not add anything new to the artist, Majid Al-Kadwani, the police officer, other than obtaining a larger area than the scenes in which Sayed Rajab, the "drug dealer" and one of the men close to the hero, and Muhammad Juma'a, who works as a guard, both presented unidentified characters. A key that could have been dispensed with without causing a glitch.
Poster for the crime movie (networking sites)
aimless struggle
The idea of the film seems lost between the psychological struggle that Adel Al-Nadouri is experiencing and reality.
Adel, who did not learn from the past of his mother, who was killed by his grandfather for betraying her, while also marrying a traitorous woman, often appears to be helpless in front of her, in contrast to his excessive use of force, implementing the instructions of the grandfather who taught him that force is the only means of survival, and that he must implement Punishment without supervision.
It can be said that "The Crime" is a visual work with interesting scenes, and a modern technique, affected by the dramatic plot that takes place in the world of crime.