Caramel is as sweet as its name suggests and it marks Nadine Labaki out as a definite talent to watch.
Comment
10/27/07
Caramel (2008)
92
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:74
Fresh:68
Rotten:6
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: Caramel is both an astute cultural study, and a charming comedic drama from a talented newcomer.
Theatrical Release:16-05-2008
Synopsis: Warm and sweet, this Lebanese film lives up to its titular substance without ever being too sugary. Actress Nadine Labaki cowrote and directed CARAMEL, an ensemble comedy set in and around a Beirut... [More]
Starring: Nadine Labaki, Yasmine Al Masri, Joanna Moukarzel, Gisele Aouad
Director: Nadine Labaki
Reviews for Caramel
A lovely little comedy-drama.
10/11/07
Top Critic...a tedious, virtually interminable effort...
09/18/07
It's refreshing for a romantic comedy not to follow the formula by rote. I only wish I could be as enthusiastic about the amount of screen time accorded to certain characters who are more tedious than endearing.
01/31/08
A formulaic sisters-are-doing-it-for-themselves (and doing each other's hair) ensemble drama in the manner of 'Beauty Shop,' elevated by the novelty of its Lebanese locations and Arabic cast...
03/31/08
A 34-year-old music-video director, Labaki shows promise with a smooth, artistic eye, although she succumbs to the Mel Gibson-like tendency to give herself the most closeups.
05/01/08
Feminist issues that may be dangerous to tackle in the conservative Middle East are rendered silly by uneven performances and soap-opera overkill.
10/06/07
Uneven, fluctuating between poignancy...and fluff.
02/01/08
Taken together, the women tell a universal story about the beauty and battles of daily life.
09/19/08
In the Beirut beauty salon where most of Caramel takes place, women of various shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds gather to bond and gossip.
02/04/08
Top CriticDespite a soft pacing and deliberate narrative, writer and director Nadine Labaki uses women's lives as a backdrop in celebration of the melting pot of Beirut.
02/01/08
Consider it 'Fried Green Falafel.'
02/03/08
Labaki elicits expressive performances from a cast of amateurs, aided by Khalad Mouzanar's entrancing score and Yves Sehnaoui's lush cinematography.
03/28/08
The result is a sweet, but certainly not cloying, film about relationships in modern Beirut %u2013 the city to which Labaki dedicates her film.
09/13/08
It's a warm midwinter treat.
01/31/08
Filmgoers expecting My Big Fat Lebanese Waxing are in for a bigger treat: Nadine Labaki, who wrote and directed the film, possesses an astute instinct for restraint that makes Caramel smarter ans more poignantthan the average chick flick.
02/28/08
Caramel is a warm, funny and compassionate movie that examines five women who are at very different stages in their lives, each one with a particular problem to work out.
03/02/08
Perceptive and poignant, Caramel observes the love lives of the establishment's owner, her employees and their customers.
03/28/08
Top CriticCaramel is much more artfully filmed than your average Queen Latifah version of this sort of thing. Better-acted, too, by a cast of amateurs headed by [director Nadine] Labaki herself.
02/01/08
Although the film isn't chatty and people are just a little too soap opera-ish photogenic, the film is often understated enough to charm. Small, tender scenes and little details make Caramel a nice, light passing fancy.
06/05/08
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