This movie provides a very different POV from a boy who becomes a man listening to and adoring the music of Michael Jackson. We all know that M.J. died in 2009 which proved to be a challenging event for our main character. He explores his feelings through the lens of his family and religion, choosing to be who he is, despite questioning his identity in how he relates to the King of Pop.

This is the 112th film I saw using Movie Pass.

Wow!!!

Great character study about unresolved trauma, identity, and maturing beyond simple concepts of black-and-white good and evil. Secularism vs religion takes a big backseat and is mostly besides the point.

Funny how a plot point is that the main character couldn't cry anymore because boy I sure did!!

Give this writer/director a Hollywood budget and they'd make a masterpiece.

But don't think Salama is one to call lifestyle A right and lifestyle B wrong. Instead he's asking us to wonder when enough is enough and when wholesale submission to God becomes a detriment to the health of your soul.

my full review at The Film Stage and archived

Sky Movies' a Premiere a Day

A really interesting little film from Egypt, about a devout Islamic preacher with a secret life-long obsession with Michael Jackson. It has a lot to say about the power of passion and the danger of repression, as well as the universal and transcendental nature of music. It suffers slightly from not having any Jackson music (presumably a budgetary issue) but director Amr Salama finds novel ways around that, and if you’re familiar with the iconography of Jackson’s music then there’s plenty of visual cues to enjoy. Around the weighty issues, it detours into David Lynch-esque surrealism and even horror. Really well acted, really unique and interesting film that I was enjoyed very much.

AFI NEW AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL 2018 - Film #23

I find it highly amusing that a film that is so fascinated with Michael Jackson - including repeated hallucinatory appearances of a Jackson look-alike and meticulous homages to many of his iconic videos - does not include even a single Jackson song on its soundtrack. I don’t know if they couldn’t receive the appropriate permissions or just couldn’t afford to pay for the rights, but it is a testament to the film that they completely get away with it. The juxtapositioning of orthodox Muslim beliefs and conservatism with the anarchic power of Jackson’s music and behavior makes this film a fascinating study in contrasts. Kahled’s crisis of faith, brought on by the announced death of Jackson, is the perfect metaphor for the crisis faced by the Muslim faith in a twenty-first century world. Inventively outrageous at times, the film is also fiercely life affirming in the end.

If this movie shows anything, it shows that the Egyptian cinema industry can still be saved. good movie plot wise, it discussed a rather interesting story. but i couldn't feel the ending.

الفيلم من أفضل الأفلام العربية الي بتطرّق لموضوع الدين و النفس.

طريقة طرحه للصراع النفسي لشخصية خالد جدا مميزة و مش مبتذلة، كنت بتمنى لو إنها كانت أطول، وكنت بتمنى يتعمّق أكثر بتحوّل شخصية خالد من حد بيحب مايكل جاكسون للشيخ الملتزم.

إخراج عمرو سلامة كان جميل جدًا، اختيار الممثلين و آداءهم كان سفّاح.

What a great film!
I loved it,

Actually this is a well-made movie 
I loved the details and the director’s style, 
But it could be even better if they made it two hrs, we could know more about everything, some scenes were not good bc we don’t know these ppl well 
Like the doctor, But i still enjoyed it.

- So did you cried ?
- No, but for a moment I felt that I am immortal..

This is just perfect, how masterpieces are produced.

وماجد الكدواني ده أحلى حاجة في مصر.

Personal, passionet and creative film.

Well balanced, well paced, well acted and directed, with good music and some good strong lines.

There is some plot holes and jumps, but nothing that big to ruins the movie for you.

It's rare to find arabic movies on that level, so you should give it a try.

ما كان يمكن ان يكون مجرد قصة عادية عن هوس شخص بمايكل جاكسون ، اصبح قصة عميقة بشكل مثير للدهشة ، سيجعلك الفيلم تتذكر مخاوف ووساوس المراهقة الصعبة ، عمرو سلامة مخرج لا يقدم افلاما بل قطعا من روحه . 🎬🕊🖤

Sky Movies' a Premiere a Day

A really interesting little film from Egypt, about a devout Islamic preacher with a secret life-long obsession with Michael Jackson. It has a lot to say about the power of passion and the danger of repression, as well as the universal and transcendental nature of music. It suffers slightly from not having any Jackson music (presumably a budgetary issue) but director Amr Salama finds novel ways around that, and if you’re familiar with the iconography of Jackson’s music then there’s plenty of visual cues to enjoy. Around the weighty issues, it detours into David Lynch-esque surrealism and even horror. Really well acted, really unique and interesting film that I was enjoyed very much.