Coming Soon
THE RAZOR’S EDGE
1985
Director
Jocelyne Saab
Starring
Jacques Weber
Hala Bassam
Juliet Berto
Runtime
103 minutes
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NEW RESTORATION!
Jocelyne Saab’s THE RAZOR’S EDGE is one of the documentary filmmaker’s few narrative features. It tells the story of 15-year-old Samar, a refugee in Beirut, who roams its streets surrounded but unfazed by the reality of war. Defiantly carrying dreams of love and freedom, her curiosity and imagination stand in contrast with the city’s ruins, fighters and children playing at soldiers. By chance or prescience, she meets Karim, an older man painting in a grand pink house, and forms an unusual but tender connection that threatens to fall apart with this fraught world.
Filmed during Lebanon’s long civil war, THE RAZOR’S EDGE deftly weaves stark documentary footage with lush imagery in a meditation on memory and place. Taking bold leaps into the poetic and theatrical, it asks what is left for art and desire to do in absurd and horrific times.
“Saab’s filmmaking was tender and personal, approaching montage as a kind of architecture as her camera’s eye sought to rebuild from memory the country she left behind. While her focus was on Lebanon, her eye expanded to encompass historical moments from around the Middle East, offering an anti-imperialist gaze on Palestine, Iran and Algeria. Watching THE RAZOR’S EDGE, it’s difficult to imagine that it was almost lost to time. Masterful and singular, it’s a film of rare sensitivity and grace. The restoration has tremendous warmth and detail, and does justice to Saab’s incredible gaze.” - Justine Smith
Jocelyne Saab’s THE RAZOR’S EDGE is one of the documentary filmmaker’s few narrative features. It tells the story of 15-year-old Samar, a refugee in Beirut, who roams its streets surrounded but unfazed by the reality of war. Defiantly carrying dreams of love and freedom, her curiosity and imagination stand in contrast with the city’s ruins, fighters and children playing at soldiers. By chance or prescience, she meets Karim, an older man painting in a grand pink house, and forms an unusual but tender connection that threatens to fall apart with this fraught world.
Filmed during Lebanon’s long civil war, THE RAZOR’S EDGE deftly weaves stark documentary footage with lush imagery in a meditation on memory and place. Taking bold leaps into the poetic and theatrical, it asks what is left for art and desire to do in absurd and horrific times.
“Saab’s filmmaking was tender and personal, approaching montage as a kind of architecture as her camera’s eye sought to rebuild from memory the country she left behind. While her focus was on Lebanon, her eye expanded to encompass historical moments from around the Middle East, offering an anti-imperialist gaze on Palestine, Iran and Algeria. Watching THE RAZOR’S EDGE, it’s difficult to imagine that it was almost lost to time. Masterful and singular, it’s a film of rare sensitivity and grace. The restoration has tremendous warmth and detail, and does justice to Saab’s incredible gaze.” - Justine Smith