Galina Film director Abdel Kechiche became so involved with the footage for the picture La Graine et le Mulet (The Secret of the Grain) which tells the story of a big dysfunctional family of Tunisian immigrants in the southern French port town of Sete that he could not part with a smallest parts of it. He dedicated the film to his father, and I would not be surprised to find out that the film characters with their traditions, everyday problems, struggles, hopes, and losses were written by Abdel Kechiche from his own family, and the story he tells was inspired by his own growing up. The Secret of the Grain is compelling and personal movie but Kechiche either should have taken another editor or let them use the scissors without reservation. The movie is long with many scenes practically begging of being significantly trimmed. It does not apply to all scenes. Some are amazingly acted, and I would not miss a second of the scene where young Rym (Hafsia Herzi) is trying to convince her mother Lilia to go to the big party in the final part of the film. A newcomer Hafsia Herzi is a born actress, and a good one. She is without a doubt a very promising talent with huge potential but her endless belly-dancing in the final was just that - endless and boring. I get the purpose of the scene but its length and the camera peering at Hafsia's belly for what seems hours, totally kills it.Kechiche shot the film in Cinéma vérité style, and while it works and lets us actually get to know the characters, overlong monologues and conversations often made me feel like watching a reality talk show which is a completely different genre altogether. The emotional and powerful monologue of Julia, the long-suffering wife of one of a male characters, would have been ten times more powerful had it been twice or even trice shorter. Yes, perhaps in reality the neglected young wife and mother would cry and complain even longer than the scene in the film lasts but we the viewers are grownups, we understand, we get it - don't hit us over the head.The film is a recipient of many Awards including four César Awards (Best Film, Best Directing, Best Writing, and Most Promising Actress for Herzi) and it was nominated for Best Editing which really surprised me. I think Kechiche deserved to be recognized and rewarded but I hope that he will be more critical with his future films. The film creator should not be afraid of cutting of all unnecessary parts of his work to let a hidden masterpiece inside it breathe freely.

Greekguy A beautiful paean to the North African community of Marseille, where a suddenly unemployed boat-worker decides to open a fish couscous restaurant aboard a derelict scow. To achieve this, a peace of sorts has to be established among the factions of his complicated and enlarged family, and we watch with interest as each camp gets to present its grievances on the way to a ceasefire.This film is about family, about parents and children, about assimilation and ethnicity, about food and dancing and pride and folly, but mostly it's about love and bad luck. Shot in a close-up style that pulls the viewer straight into the frame (you feel you are sitting on a stool in the corner of the kitchen, fascinated by the conversations that rage around you), the film seems peopled with actual people, not characters in roles.This film is unmissably good, with stand-out performances across the entire cast. The director, who had won four Cesars with his earlier film "L'esquive", matched that haul here with this piece of brilliance, establishing himself as candidate for best French director of the decade.

gradyharp THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN (LA GRAINE ET LE MULET) as written and directed by Abdellatif Kechiche offers the viewer a different version of the importance of family and the need to bond for survival. Kechiche is known for casting his films with unknown actors (or even fist time actors) and while some may view this as self-indulgent exercise in proving that a film can be made without the aid of a talented cast, others will appreciate the fine performances he is able to draw from both unknowns (Habib Boufares) and stars on the rise (Hafsia Herzi). The story is fairly straightforward (despite the fact that it takes 2 1/2 hours to tell!): in the Southern France port city of Sète, populated with many French-speaking Arab immigrants who eke out a living repairing boats and fishing, lives senior citizen Slimane Beiji (Habib Boufares) and his friends and family - an ex-wife chronically angry about missed alimony payments, an adulterer son, and girlfriend who satisfies him and also has a daughter Rym (Hafsia Herzl) who adores him. Slimane struggles with his job, has his hours cut back severely, and together with his friends who also are suffering economically, bond more strongly. Eventually Slimane comes upon the idea of establishing a restaurant housed in a deserted old ship that he purchases and with the help from his family and his friends (especially supported by Rym) he opens his restaurant that features the fish with couscous recipe of his ex-wife. The reason this too-long film ultimately satisfies is the completely spontaneous atmosphere created by director Kechiche: the dialogue feels completely improvised, as though we happen to be passing by Sète and overheard a colony of down and out immigrants from North Africa transform their fates. It may take a lot of patience to sit through the first half of the film, but the end result is rewarding. Grady Harp

druid333-2 In the grand tradition of film dealing with food as a central centerpiece,'La Graine Et Le Mulet' (released in the U.S.& other English speaking countries as 'The Secret Of The Grain') can easily be placed with other films such as 'Eat,Drink,Man,Woman','Big Night' & 'Babbette's Feast'. Slimane,a sixty something ship yard worker is being pressured by his boss to step down,due to the fact that he's not as fast as the younger men who are working the docks. All of this,plus the pressures of dealing with an ex-wife,who scolds him for non payment of alimony,plus his sons & daughters,who are constantly arguing with each other,as well as their own families is having an effect on his life. Slimane's dream is to refurbish a boat & turn it into a floating restaurant that serves up traditional North African cuisine (with CousCous,the star attraction). After procuring the funds,not to mention going through the bureaucratic b.s. that's necessary for an undertaking of this sort, Slimane is on to realizing his dream. Abdel Kechiche writes & directs a fine story of family bonds & over coming hurdles (or at least trying to over come hurdles). Habib Boufares plays a weary looking Slimane. The rest of the cast is made up of various folk from Tunesia,France & other places. The camera work (by Lubomir Bakchev) opts for a documentary look that really works for this film (as the documentary look also worked fine for 'The Class',earlier this year). If I have any quirk with this film, at two & a half hours,plus,it's a wee bit long in the tooth (several scenes could have been either trimmed,or even cut out,which would not have hurt the films integrity in the least). Make sure you enjoy a full meal before you undertake this film (as you'll be really hungry after wards). Spoken mostly in French & Arabic with English subtitles. Not rated,but contains raunchy language,brief flashes of nudity & some muted sexual content