18/12/2024 - The visually striking debut feature by Mohamed Lakhdar Tati is a genre exercise and an ode to the Algerian landscape

There is much chaos and risk-taking in the life of aspiring filmmaker and gasoline smuggler Saad (the alluring Salim Kechiouche). He is the driving force of Bin U Bin, Elsewhere the Border, the debut feature by Mohamed Lakhdar Tati. The Algerian-French effort had its world premiere in the Red Sea Competition of the Red Sea International Film Festival. It alludes to Western genre iconography in depicting the harsh, mountainous landscape of Algeria, close to the Tunisian border, and the equally harsh life of the locals, while the film as a whole doesn’t amount to anything nearly as clear in terms of its genre or story.

After starting out with a straightforward premise, the plot starts to get overly complicated, as the director attempts to inject too many elements into it: a crime story, a character study and a philosophical statement. The film is gritty and realistic for the most part, but with dream-like sequences that don’t quite hit the mark. This mix was intentional, as the titular Bin U Bin is a state of being caught between two seemingly contradictory ideas or conditions. However, the execution sometimes falls short, making these elements feel disjointed.

Saad, who doesn’t even own a camera, dreams of making a film that could help him express feelings of freedom and oppression simultaneously. He has a sound-recording device, which helps him imagine this future movie. He joins local gasoline smuggler Fethi (Slimane Dazi) to get the funds for the equipment he needs. Thus, he gets embroiled in some pretty shady business, where lives matter less than the profits made from illegal fuel trading. Saad also spends some time with his former love interest (Hanaa Mansour), who is making a modest living by selling herbal teas and mixtures. She is the only person in the world who has found peace, and she has done so through co-existing with nature. Saad, however, is torn, much like his future film: living between the tenderness of his inner world and the ruthlessness of the outside one.

Bin U Bin, Elsewhere the Border is visually striking but requires more than just a pretty picture to engage the audience for its full running time. While its thematic elements and artistic choices are compelling, the narrative could have benefited from a clearer structure and a more focused delivery of its ideas. This would have helped enhance the viewer’s engagement, and bring out the intended depth of its characters and story.

Bin U Bin, Elsewhere the Border is a French-Algerian co-production staged by La Chambre Claire, Le Centre algérien pour le développement du cinéma and La Petite Prod. The world sales rights are up for grabs.