The Book of Sun

I want to start by saying that I've known the work of the Gudos brothers since their collaboration with Telfaz and other Youtube related projects. I wasn't very excited to see the movie fearing that it would be similar to other national projects that are cliched or cinge-worthy. But after actually seeing the movie I realized that it's nothing like any other Saudi project I'm very proud and delighted by this experience.

The movie follows the path of a high school kid (Hossam) who is passionate about movies, a passion he shares with his physics teacher (Orabi) and his peers. The group decides to kick off their career and make use of Hossam editing and directing skills by filming a horror movie "Shams al-maarf". Throughout their journey they encounter the difficulties of having dreams and working to achieve them in an environment that is not supportive to say the least.

What I mostly loved about the movie is how relevant it is, everyone can relate to it in one way or another, but its relevance doesn't affect how well thought the story is. The performance of the actors was great, this is the first time that I see Bara'a acting and he didn't disappoint, I was a bit concerned that Sohayb performance might be over the top sometimes like in "six windows in the desert" but it wasn't, he did a great job portraying the middle aged teacher who still feels like a kid once reminded of his dreams. The soundtracks used in the movie were beautiful, I enjoyed that almost all of them were original and in the Saudi dialect. Finally I really appreciated that the movie is not trying to be something it's not, not imitating other projects and trying to find its own style and uniqueness.

Shams Al-maarf is definitely a turning point for me to believe again in Saudi filmmakers, it's a movie that I would enjoy watching again and again.