City of Life

An excellent movie overall. There was a fluent use of English, Arabic and Urdu in this movie because in Dubai all three languages are used fluently. This movie shows the sharp contract in people and their attitude.

I really felt for the Indian Manager who had worked for 15 years only to be put under a young boy just because he was boss's son.

This movie did not touch more sensitive items like slave servants or sex slaves but it plays in such a way that you could feel the helplessness in the air.

The message in between the lies was that this life in the fast lane means that there is nothing what it seems.

This is a "Crash"-style story of lives in Dubai, set, apparently, just before the financial crash. Although it resembles, somewhat, "Crash," it manages to pull away from the most obvious clichés as it unfolds three or four representative stories from some of the major populations who live and work in the city. The low rating (currently 4.5) is entirely unjustified; it's a solid, competent work with only a few off notes, and in many ways it represents the arrival of first-class film-making to the Emirates. Each of the three major plots - Emirati, European-expat, and Indian-expat - have a strong narrative arc, and each come to a satisfying, if not always happy, end. In all, it's a fascinating view into worlds rarely, if ever, depicted on the world screen.

Prior to viewing this film in the cinema in Dubai, I had already heard some good reviews of the film having a potential to enter mainstream cinema. Therefore last night I decided on viewing this film without expecting much.

The storytelling is basically similar to the likes of Babel and Crash, and the film style is "done that, did that". In spite of all the similarities I was impressed by production quality and cinematography. Film touches on lives of three people living in Dubai, and their experiences based on their dreams. Dubai has always been a city of dream rather than a city of life, where people come to fulfill their dream on making more money, buying a bigger better car and home, or simply living a lavish life. This has been well portrayed in the film.

The acting quality is excellent and the costumes, make-ups, and production designs are all well picked. But somehow watching this film in a cinema felt a bit awkward as it had a television production feel rather than cinema house quality. My overall experience just like everyone else was good.

I recommend you watch this film if you have never lived in Dubai, as it does speak out well about Dubai's lifestyle and the dreams people carry here. Dubai is simply a place for dreamers and its best lived short and sweet.

My score: 6 out of 10

Neeil Bhatia

City of Life didn't live up to its potential, but is still a quaint melodrama and I must say I enjoyed the second half. When I say potential, I mean things like showing us more of the city and surrounds. We get snippets of interesting looking streets and harbour, but much of the movie could well have been anywhere. There is a fight scene in a wreckers yard for example, which may as well have been New York. The snippets and ideas behind what cinematography there was, such as fireworks at a low ebb, or the Asian and his bicycle, were very good. The story is OK but nothing we haven't seen before, nor are the characters anything novel, save perhaps the fellow whom looks like a movie star. He had a relationship with some boys from his slum that was cute, and I wondered the writers didn't develop that a little. City of Life seems to have opted for a play-it-safe course for most of its duration, but I must admit it did all lead to some very satisfactory conclusions. City of Life will please, but probably won't dazzle.

I am not used to write on this wall but this time i had to say something.

I see people complaining about things that do not have anything to do with the movie. This movie is a portrait of the "melting pot" in UAE and their different lifestyles. This is a real eye opener. For us to see their culture. I have been there and i did not have the chance to see so many things, which actually makes me sad. But this movie was great in my opinion. I think that it also had a whole new way of shooting movies on.

We also see how the poor man.....see it yourself.