It’s painful to lose passion, so if there is a way to get it back, you’ll probably do it. That’s what the new comedy ‘Wahed Tani’ (Another One) is all about.
Directed by Mohamed Shaker Khodir, written by Haitham Dabor and starring Ahmed Helmy, Wahed Tani tells the story of Mustafa, whose old friends invite him to a get-together. They talk about their jobs and their successes. Mostafa is asked what he has done with his life, but he has no answer. He realises he hasn’t achieved anything, even though during his university years he was the most active and passionate among them.
Mustafa listens to the advice of Gaser (Ahmed Malik), the brother of his girlfriend (Ruby), and takes a suppository — the latest invention that enables people to change their lives and get their passion back. But there is a side effect: Mustafa becomes two people in one body. One is the Mustafa we know and the other is X, the passionate person of Mustafa’s past.
The main idea of ‘Wahed Tani’ movie is similar to American-made Jonathan (2018), starring Ansel Elgort and Suki Waterhouse and directed by Bill Oliver. The film tackles the idea of ‘single-body multi-consciousness’ in twin brothers, Jonathan and John who share one body but different consciousnesses. They exchange appearances throughout the day at fixed times.
In the US movie, the two brothers meet daily via video and relate what happened to them during the day in order to make sure that unexpected events do not happen.
The twins have different qualities, Jonathan is a talented, successful architect and introverted, unlike John, who is limited in abilities and careless.
In the Egyptian movie, the two main characters are also different. Mustafa is a prison social worker. He feels bored and has lost his passion in life, while the other person X, who is his younger self, is daring, adventurous and outgoing.
In Jonathan the two consciousnesses are twins, but in ‘Wahed Tani’, Mustafa and X are the same person.
However, Jonathan is based on a scientific case called a single body with multiple consciousnesses, while in the Egyptian version this was replaced by a suppository.
Like the US movie, the two brothers communicate through recorded videos on their mobile phones to tell the details of the day to each other to avoid problems.
In ‘Wahed Tani’, Mustafa is subjected to X and believes that X is better as he is more courageous, creative and qualified.
The film is a strong comeback for Ahmed Helmy after a three-year absence from the silver screen. For me, ‘Wahed Tani’ is more vivid than Jonathan, which was rather bit tedious and slow at times. ‘Wahed Tani’ is a skilful comedy, but watch out for the vulgar innuendos.
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