Moroccan Chronicles

In Fez, traditional capital of N Morocco, a boy, recuperating from circumcision carried out too late due to his father's absence, is told three comforting stories by his mother. The first is a moral tale about three kids who torment a beggar and his performing monkey in Marrakesh; the second a sly fable about a sophisticated and beautiful young flirt leading an admirer a merry dance in Essaouira (where Welles, fittingly, shot Othello); the third a cautionary tale of an old Tangier fisherman determined, against all odds and advice from pals, to catch the monstrous whale he insists haunts the straits of Gibraltar. It's an odd little film, elusive, allusive, delicate, touching, and the final scenes are even more enigmatic. If it finally doesn't quite hang together, there's still plenty to intrigue and impress en route.