A Thousand Months

A Thousand Months

**

Reviewed by: Gator MacReady

This film is very boring and only of minimal interest whenever something bizarre happens. Apart from that, it's just another poncy art movie with a zillion pointless scenes and an editor who doesn't understand that his job is to cut out the empty bits. If he had done so, A Thousand Months would clock in at about five minutes.

From what I could make out, there is some village out in the barren desert where the people live in poverty and have a crappy life. Their crops aren't growing and there is hardly any work. The most up to date technology is the abacus and there's probably only one guy in town who knows how to work it. You get the picture; it's primitive.

Copy picture

And that's about it, plot-wise. We superficially jump in and out of a few minor stories, without ever being involved in anything substantial. The characters aren't interesting enough, or have enough pathos, to carry the movie on their own. It's a truly redundant experience. The fact that the film climaxes in a burning riot after a chair, used in a wedding reception, was stolen from the local school, only proves how nonsensical this is.

Some pretty widescreen photography can't save it. You'll be falling asleep, or illuminating your watch every two minutes. This is 124 minutes of boredom.

Reviewed on: 22 Aug 2003
Share this with others on...
A Thousand Months packshot
Life in a poor Moroccan village, where a school chair is the most valued object.
Amazon link

Read more A Thousand Months reviews:

David Haviland *1/2

Director: Faouzi Bensaidi

Writer: Emmanuelle Sardou, Faouzi Bensaidi

Starring: Fouad Labied, Nezha Rahil, Mohammed Majd, Mohammed Afifi, Mohamed Bastaoui, Abdelati Lambarki, Brahim Khai, Abdellah Chicha, Mohamed Choubi, Hajar Masdouki

Year: 2003

Runtime: 124 minutes

Country: Morocco

Festivals:

EIFF 2003

Search database: