Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageSalut Cousin! (1996)
Director: Merzak Allouache
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Alilo (Elmaleh) arrives in Paris from Algiers on an errand from his fashion wholesaler boss. He must collect a consignment of clothes, but he's lost the contact details. It's the weekend, so he's stranded on the streets until he remembers cousin Mok (Hattou). Mok seems to have it made, with his hipster clothes, his own flat and an upcoming gig as a rap artist. By his side, Alilo feels like a real country bumpkin, yet the more time he spends around this self-styled city slicker, the more he realises that the Parisian dream can easily turn hollow. This is no dogged social realist trudge through the immigrant nightmare. There's much sly comedy as we gradually see through Mok's motormouth bragging, a touch of tingly romance as Alilo starts making eye contact with Mok's West African neighbour Fatoumata (Berdy), and a sturdy narrative line that builds up tension the closer Alilo comes to delivery day. The performances never mistake insight for exaggeration, and the rich camerawork refuses to settle for off-hand grunge. Most memorable of all is the film's feeling for those Algerians who can never return to their ravaged homeland, but know they'll never truly be at home in France.Author: TJ
Cast & crew
Director: Merzak Allouache
Producer: Jacques Bidou
Cast: Gad Elmaleh, Mess Hattou, Magaly Berdy, Ann-Gisel Glass, Jean Benguigui, Xavier Maly full cast
Duration: 102 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now