City of Life (Ali F. Mostafa, 2009)

The title seems to be meant in earnest, as if what we're seeing is the richness of human existence rather than what Dubai certainly comes across as in this film, namely a soulless pile of steel and glass, populated by shits preying on the weak. The intersecting-ensemble template is directly stolen from Crash or Amores Perros, to name a few of its most recent adopters, and the primary job of the director and writers is to populate that framework with events and characters which work as moments of revelation.
City of Life fails badly in relation to its remit for because of three principal factors: many of the multinational cast intended to represent a cross-section of Dubai society can hardly act, the dialogue and scene tone swings between lifeless and melodramatic like a pendulum, and character developments and events are signposted miles in advance. Nor do you care for any of the personages, falling squarely into two sets: dumb victims and bastards. When the peak moment of catharsis comes in the form of a multiple pile-up on a motorway, it symbolises the entirety quite neatly.

3/10