'Costa Brava, Lebanon' review: Masterful family drama unearths Beirut's lost dreams

The dystopian future, once a favorite subject of science fiction, is rapidly becoming the present. To use the devastating metaphor that guides Mounia Akl's brilliant debut feature "Costa Brava, Lebanon," he drops his shit on our doorstep. Visually mature and darkly funny, "Costa Brava, Lebanon" expertly balances telling a good story while tackling the most pressing issues facing humanity. Energized by a charming cast of intimately compelling characters, its highly focused metaphor never strays too far from the human element. Working with powerful performances from Academy Award-nominated Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki and Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, Mounia Akl is the next big star in Middle Eastern cinema.

The film tells the story of the Bakri family, who live in a lush, self-sufficient farm on the outskirts of Beirut. Opening with an ostensibly vague title card - "Lebanon, in the near future" - a newscast informs us that Beirut is in the midst of a waste crisis. This has been happening since 2015, with ongoing protests against government corruption and inefficiency taking over the city streets daily. Within the Bakri family compound, however, life is wonderfully simple.

Always kind to each other, Souraya (Labaki) and Walid (Bakri) spend their days gardening, fixing fences, feeding chickens and cooking over an open fire. They live with their two daughters; rambunctious little Rim (Ceana and Geana Restom), who worships her father and the home they built, and 17-year-old Tala (Nadia Charbel), whose budding sexuality makes her curious about the world her family has left behind . Walid's stubborn mother, Zeina (Liliane Chacar Knoury), lives next door, taking her oxygen machine along while bribing the neighbor for cigarettes.

When Rim sees a group of uniformed men walking through the surrounding property, the family is furious to learn that Walid's sister has sold her adjoining land to the government without consulting them. One of the country's last green spaces will now be used for a landfill, which its engineer Tarek (Francois Nour) assures the family will be a sustainable facility. Although skeptical of these empty promises, Walid remains hopeful that the project is just a government enterprise that will never materialize. As bulldozers and diggers rip up the earth, the Bakri family must watch the daily destruction, witnessing the literal crap that will slowly eat away at their little piece of paradise.

"Costa Brava, Lebanon"

Kino Lorber

The once harmonious family begins to fight, the tension of the situation tests their affections and stratifies their ideological differences. As the architect of the dream house, Walid is determined to stay, fearing the leak will set a bad example for his daughters. Meanwhile, Souraya, once a famous singer in Beirut, regrets her old life and suggests returning to the city. "They will find a new way...