Costa Brava, Lebanon

Directed by Mounia Akl, Costa Brava, Lebanon follows an off-the-grid family, which consists of, among others, Saleh Bakri’s Walid and Nadine Labaki’s Soraya, as they’re forced to contend with a series of complications and problems (including, and especially, an encroaching landfill). Filmmaker Akl, working from a script written with Clara Roquet, delivers a deliberately-paced drama that’s at its best in its uneventful yet watchable first half, as the movie, at its outset, boasts an affable-enough atmosphere that’s perpetuated and heightened by the charming efforts of its various performers. (And it doesn’t hurt, certainly, that the picture’s characters all come off as tremendously likable and sympathetic.) There’s little doubt, then, that Costa Brava, Lebanon‘s downfall is due almost entirely to the often egregiously meandering bent of Akl’s approach, with the emphasis on the protagonists’ laid-back happenings (eg cleaning the pool, flirting with a guest, etc) paving the way for an ineffective, anticlimactic final third that couldn’t possibly be more sluggish – which is a shame, certainly, given that film does conclude on a comparatively enthralling note. The end result is a well-intentioned misfire that generally feels as though it should be much, much better, and it’s hard to deny, ultimately, that Costa Brava, Lebanon really has no business running a second over 90 minutes.

** out of ****