Underplayed Gems

Smooth Hands (1963)

Smooth Hands poster
Original title
الأيدي الناعمة
Directed by
Mahmoud Zulfikar
Genre
drama film, comedy film, musical film, romance film
Country
Egypt
Runtime
2h 17m
Rating
6.7 of 10 from 9 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

After the 1952 revolution strips him of his land, a former aristocrat struggles to accept that he must now work for a living. He meets an unemployed Arabic doctorate who shares his pride, and together they try to adjust to the new socialist reality in Egypt.

lightheartedwryslightly satiricalobservantgentlecomedicdatedhuman

What happens

Soft Hands (Arabic: الأيدي الناعمة, translit.al-aydi al-nā'ima) is a 1963 Egyptian comedy film directed by Mahmoud Zulfikar. It is based on a play of the same name by Egyptian playwright Tawfiq al-Hakim (1953). It features an ensemble cast that includes Sabah, Salah Zulfikar, Ahmed Mazhar, Mariam Fakhr Eddine and Laila Taher. The film was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival. The film a member of the Top 100 Egyptian films list. The plot involves a formerly landed aristocrat dispossessed by the 1952 Egyptian Revolution. The plot follows the aristocrat's struggle coming to terms with the reality of needing to work for a living, after being stripped of all landownership. He meets a similarly jobless doctorate in the Arabic language, who, like him, is not willing to accept a job below his stature. Both must adjust to the new social and political realities in a new Nasserite socialist Egypt. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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