"The Yaboubian Building" reminded me of those over-heated Spanish soap operas that air nightly on Telemundo. The sweep and size of the film (not to mention its length) may fool people into thinking it's a more important picture than it actually is, when really it's not much more than one big soapy melodrama that manages to stay mostly entertaining over the course of its three hours.
There's a lot going on in this film, and you may find you have your work cut for you just following the basics of the plot. I suspect much more of the film would have made sense to me had I known more about Egyptian culture. As it is, there are a lot of terms and situations in the film that probably didn't have their full desired effect. Of course, it's tough as an American, and therefore one used to experiencing art that throws critical darts at my country's beliefs and institutions, to fully understand how controversial this film (and the book on which it is based) has been in Egypt. By all accounts, the frank candour about corrupt government, homosexuality and the prostitution of Egyptian citizens (of all types and at all levels of society) have been greeted with quite an uproar in this film's country of origin. It's a noble effort on the part of the film-makers, and I can understand them wanting to pack in as much punch as they can, but the film tries to do too much, and the plot feels like several different agendas unsuccessfully unified into a coherent whole.
Much of "The Yacoubian Building" is no less ham-fisted than your typical Hollywood film, not the least of which are the scenes that explain outright the film's central metaphor (the Yacoubian building itself as a representation of Egyptian society). But much of it works quite well too, especially the acting, which is pretty good across the board, the crisp pacing and the driving musical score.
A big bold movie that bites off more than it can chew but provides a solid few hours of entertainment nonetheless.
Grade: B+
