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The Cairo Scene

The Cairo Scene is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Wael Khairy.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
Knight of Cups (2015) Wael Khairy Powerful and Soul-shaking....Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups is philosophical fiction at its finest.
Posted Jan 12, 2026  Edit critic review
Sirāt (2025) Wael Khairy The suspense is relentless. There were long stretches where I found myself at the edge of my seat. One scene in particular left me in complete shock....It’s an image I’ll likely never forget. I doubt I’ll see a more jaw-dropping moment this year.
Posted Oct 07, 2025  Edit critic review
Urchin (2025) Wael Khairy ...a compassionate and darkly humorous portrait of homelessness. ...Urchin asks us to care, even when it’s easier to turn away.
Posted Sep 06, 2025  Edit critic review
Sentimental Value (2025) Wael Khairy The writing is devastating. ‘Sentimental Value’ is a film about the redemptive power of storytelling. It explores how the act of making cinema can be a form of healing.
Posted Aug 03, 2025  Edit critic review
The Plague (2025) Wael Khairy A chilling descent into the horrors of bullying...There’s a particular kind of ache that comes from betraying your own sense of right and wrong just to avoid becoming a target yourself. The film is one of the most promising debuts of the year.
Posted Jul 02, 2025  Edit critic review
Die My Love (2025) Wael Khairy This is without doubt her (Jennifer Lawrence's) greatest performance yet. The film perfectly captures the grief of losing a part of yourself in the process of becoming someone else. It’s not a story about motherhood as much as it is an experience of it.
Posted Jun 18, 2025  Edit critic review
It Was Just an Accident (2025) Wael Khairy "It Was Just An Accident" contains perhaps the most perfect ending of any film I’ve seen this year. It invites a kind of active spectatorship where audiences must reckon with the discomfort of moral ambiguity.
Posted Jun 15, 2025  Edit critic review
Once Upon a Time in Gaza (2025) Wael Khairy With Once Upon a Time in Gaza, the Nasser brothers pull off something so rare. They created a film that is both unflinching and unexpectedly uplifting. It demands to be seen.
Posted Jun 01, 2025  Edit critic review
The President's Cake (2025) Wael Khairy Like the cake at the heart of the story, the film builds itself layer by layer.‘The President’s Cake’ is the strongest film from the region to premiere this year at Cannes. The film everyone should be talking about
Posted May 25, 2025  Edit critic review
Eddington (2025) Wael Khairy Aster might have thought that his film is unmasking a nation in crisis, but it ends up revealing little more than a blank expression.
Posted May 21, 2025  Edit critic review
Kinds of Kindness (2024) Wael Khairy The film delves into the ways individuals navigate between personal autonomy and societal norms or external influence. In true Lanthimos fashion, he pushes these themes to exaggerated, yet darkly humorous, extremes.
Posted Aug 04, 2024  Edit critic review
The Brink of Dreams (2024) Wael Khairy Bergman once beautifully expressed that "when film is not a document, it is a dream." Here, we have a film that beautifully merges both elements.
Posted Jul 23, 2024  Edit critic review
The Village Next to Paradise (2024) Wael Khairy While the cinematography and the performances were impressive, they could not fully compensate for the film's pacing and narrative structure.
Posted Jul 07, 2024  Edit critic review
The Substance (2024) Wael Khairy I've never seen so many people storm out of a cinema during its final thirty minutes. But these weren't your typical walkouts. They didn't hate the film, it was more likely the fact that they couldn’t handle it...the most batshit crazy film of the year.
Posted Jun 25, 2024  Edit critic review
The Girl With the Needle (2024) Wael Khairy Visceral, gothic and unapologetic, ‘The Girl with the Needle’ is a visual symphony of true terror. Even the most ordinary shots become mesmerizing through careful framing and stylized lighting.
Posted Jun 04, 2024  Edit critic review
Megalopolis (2024) Wael Khairy In ‘Megalopolis’, we learn that the architect can manipulate time by making it stop. As I watched the film, I wished I had the ability to skip time, or at least reverse it, so I could avoid witnessing one of cinema’s greatest artists fall short.
Posted May 25, 2024  Edit critic review
Bird (2024) Wael Khairy When ‘Bird’ finally does spread its wings, it soars well above other coming-of-age features.
Posted May 25, 2024  Edit critic review
The Babadook (2014) Wael Khairy Here’s a horror film that strays away from cheap thrills, and taps into something real; true human fear, grief, anxiety, and depression...the more I thought of The Babadook, the deeper it sank into my psyche.
Posted Apr 22, 2024  Edit critic review
Ex Machina (2014) Wael Khairy “Ex Machina” works as a study of what it means to be conscious/human...I’m convinced more than ever that we are in the midst of a British New Wave in science fiction cinema.
Posted Jan 03, 2024  Edit critic review
Arrival (2016) Wael Khairy The film not only discusses complex theories about time, but also exemplifies it by creating a circular sequence of events. Embarking on the mounting steps of Villeneuve’s hypnotic structure is assured to leave viewers spellbound.
Posted Nov 20, 2023  Edit critic review
May December (2023) Wael Khairy ...even though the dialogue is sharp witted and searingly discomforting, I do believe the film is flawed.
Posted Jun 20, 2023  Edit critic review
Perfect Days (2023) Wael Khairy Koji Yakusho delivers a heartfelt performance that could very well be the best of his career. Compassionate but never succumbing to sentimentality, Yakusho’s presence brings a gentleness that left me hanging on every line.
Posted Jun 11, 2023  Edit critic review
La Chimera (2023) Wael Khairy Like her previous work, the past and present, life and death, as well as humans and spirits exist synchronously. Rohrwacher again challenges normative storytelling by queering with cinematic time, blurring the line between reality and fantasy.
Posted May 30, 2023  Edit critic review
About Dry Grasses (2023) Wael Khairy Slow, reflective, and heavy on dialogue, the film beautifully delves into the ethics of morality.
Posted May 27, 2023  Edit critic review
Goodbye Julia (2023) Wael Khairy The opening scenes in Khartoum are filmed with the tension of a ticking time bomb, but as it approaches the second and third acts, it stumbles and treads familiar ground.
Posted May 27, 2023  Edit critic review
Talk to Me (2023) Wael Khairy Deeply grotesque imagery and a relentless pace elevates Talk to Me’s otherwise generic plot line into a rollercoaster ride of shocks and thrills.
Posted Feb 17, 2023  Edit critic review
In My Mother's Skin (2023) Wael Khairy ...takes quite a few pages off Guillermo del Toro’s far superior "Pan’s Labyrinth". This macabre fable from the Philippines shamelessly wears its inspiration on its sleeve, but falls short in capturing the imagination.
Posted Feb 10, 2023  Edit critic review
birth/rebirth (2023) Wael Khairy The themes of motherhood and childbirth seem a bit undercooked when compared to the film’s clever ideas on the potential hazards of medical advancements.
Posted Feb 10, 2023  Edit critic review
Past Lives (2023) Wael Khairy Past Lives perfectly captures the shared feeling of melancholic longing between two souls. It basks us in the yearning for forbidden love better than any film I’ve seen this decade.
Posted Feb 02, 2023  Edit critic review
Eileen (2023) Wael Khairy William Oldroyd has crafted yet another absurd gem destined to grow a cult following. I just wish the plot was a bit more fleshed out.
Posted Feb 02, 2023  Edit critic review
Stephen Curry: Underrated (2023) Wael Khairy Even though the game footage is absolutely thrilling, it’s the quieter moments of Steph at home that will have you emotionally invested...This A24 and Apple co-production reveals a rare peek into how Steph Curry became the baby-faced assassin that he is.
Posted Feb 02, 2023  Edit critic review
Gravity (2013) Wael Khairy ...the work of an efficient master dominating his artistic form.
Posted Sep 23, 2022  Edit critic review
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) Wael Khairy I admire the film’s originality, and the thought-provoking twist ending, but daydream of a deeper director’s cut.
Posted Sep 23, 2022  Edit critic review
Naked (1993) Wael Khairy Naked is a rarity that you only stumble upon once or twice in a lifetime.
Posted Sep 23, 2022  Edit critic review
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