Casablanca, July 1999. With longtime monarch Hassan II on his deathbed, there is an air of uncertainty weighing on Morocco – and especially on one marginalized young man, M’key. M’key finds a surrogate father figure in “pit bull” police commissioner Daoud and finds love with the enchanting Rita, but Rita is kept under close watch by her gangster brothers, and Daoud has a dark tie to Rita’s past…. Resplendent in gritty black and white, Hicham Lasri’s debut is an ambitious and electrifying declaration of a new talent to watch. –Abu Dhabi Film Festival
this was excellent, top ten of films from 2011 so far. what begins as a french new wave inspired love story about a young man in love with a girl whose thief brothers literally keep in chains attached to their getaway cars, halfway through morphs into a rogue cop revenge thriller. swirling handheld camera work, smoke, and luminous black and white abound. Amazing debut feature for Hisham Lasri