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Tuesday’s Overlooked Film: “Sabah” (2005)

This week’s selection as part of Todd Mason’s (Sweet Freedom) ongoing “Overlooked Films” series is the 2005 Canadian culture clash romantic comedy Sabah, directed by Ruba Nadda (Cairo Time).

Sabah (Arsinée Khanjian) is a 40-year-old Arab woman living in Toronto. One day, when Sabah least expects it, she falls in love with the wrong man (Shawn Doyle): she’s Muslim, he’s not. Keeping him secret from her family, she embarks on a whirlwind affair before both culture and love collide. (Source: Mongrel Media)

I happened upon this film by accident one early evening when I was flipping through the channels. In some of the reviews of the film I have seen it likened to My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Sure I can see the similarities but there is a feel-good authenticity to this film that I preferred to the relative gloss of the Hollywood-backed Greek Wedding.

The film is definitely worth a look-see, especially on a comfy night in 🙂

 

TRIVIA

Nadda had only 20 days to complete principal photography of this project. (Source: Wikipedia)

 

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Films Set or Shot in Montreal

Centaur Theatre (the Old Montreal Stock Exchange)

For this, the next installment in my cinematic journey around the globe, I am hopping back over across the Atlantic and returning to my home continent (North America) – due north to the picturesque eastern Canadian city of Montreal, Quebec.

I had always known that Canada was a place that Hollywood studios liked to go to use as a local, cost-effective alternative filming location. As such, click here to see the full list. As I went through the list one of films stood out to me. Over 90% of the Roland Emmerich environmental disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow, was shot in Montreal.

As for films actually SET in Montreal, the list is a little less daunting and includes titles such as Norman Jewison’s Agnes of God (1985), the Angelina Jolie/Ethan Hawke thriller Taking Lives (2004), and the Bruce Willis/Matthew Perry crime caper The Whole Nine Yards (2000).

Two of my favorites in this set have been previously mentioned in this space: Wait Until Dark (1967) and Away We Go! (2009). Add to the list of favorite films set in Montreal the slick heist movie The Score (2001) which starring Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton and featuring Angela Bassett and, in his final movie appearance, Marlon Brando.

 

I close this entry with a couple of my travel snaps that I took along the way.

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