The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry
2023 · 21m · Germany, Jordan
Directed by Faris Alrjoob
Genres: drama, romance, thriller
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, surreal
A young German woman named Ida travels to a near-deserted resort town on the Jordanian coast of the Red Sea, hoping to make sense of her partner Ismail's unexpected disappearance and to feel his presence one last time before saying goodbye.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
16mm grief tourism on an empty Jordanian coast — Cannes-coded slow cinema that risks being more landscape than feeling, but the L'Avventura DNA and the fact that it's one of the first Jordanian films at Cannes earn it a real look.
Sun-scorched 16mm at Quinzaine des Cinéastes earns the Antonioni and Claire Denis comparisons in principle — Jordan's first such Cannes premiere is itself worth noting. Grief-tourism narratives can curdle into self-regard, but the celluloid commitment suggests intention rather than affectation.
16mm on the Jordanian Red Sea coast at Quinzaine des Cinéastes 2023 — that's a real shot at the L'Avventura/Beau Travail lineage, and the format choice is doing the heavy lifting for the grief texture. 21:05 runtime, El Gouna Silver win — committed cinema.
Reviews
Shot on film, the visual flair complements the narrative perfectly, with DP Mahmoud Belakhel placing Ida in the emptiness of an almost deserted town, and the 16mm enhancing the sun-stricken, desert atmosphere to help create a quiet melancholy.
One of the first Jordanian films to premiere at Cannes, Faris Alrjoob's beguiling short languidly drifts on the shifting tides of love and loss. At once eerie and sensuously pleasurable, sun-drenched frames are imprinted with the specter of grief.
Festivals
- Cannes Directors' Fortnight 2023
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2024
- El Gouna Film Festival 2023, Silver Star
- Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC Montreal) 2023