Goodbye My Friend

Nader Galal's 1986 Egyptian film follows two friends working at a street cart selling melons. Marzouk and Barakat cannot live on what the work brings; a man dealing in stolen cars takes an interest and the two go into that business. The subject is the cost of rising. The pair soon become their own boss's competitors and he decides to be rid of them; the narrative shows that rise not as success but as an inevitable trap. Adel Emam leads and was the most watched comic performer of the period; here comedy and the crime film sit together. The narrative shows the everyday form of the informal economy in eighties Egypt. Who it's for: those who like eighties Egyptian cinema and Adel Emam's films. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a consistent tone; the film moves often between comedy and violence.