Missing Person

Mohamed Khan's 1984 Egyptian film follows Attia, a clerk. His future mother-in-law threatens to call off the engagement because he cannot find a flat, and Attia travels to his home town to sell what he inherited. The stay in the village stretches out. He grows close to another woman there and keeps postponing his return to the city; the narrative shows this as flight and sets the two worlds against each other. Yehia El Fakharany leads. Khan's cinema rests on everyday detail, and here the housing shortage drives the story. The tone sits between humour and sadness. Who it's for: viewers of Egyptian cinema of the eighties. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a fast narrative; the film lingers in ordinary detail.