FILM REVIEWS:
BOUCHRA (Morocco/Italy/USA 2025) **
Directed by Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani
The beginning sequence of the fresh and inventive film BOUCHRA, shot in French, English, and Moroccan, has the word Casablanca appearing on th screen, then followed by the words New Your. The audience sees a NYC subway train flying by, and an image can be seen. The image forms into acid to animal, later revealed to be a coyote named BOUCHRA, also the name of the film. What initially looks like a horror movie then settles to be playful animation drama,
BOUCHRA tells the story of a queer New York filmmaker’s conversations with her mother in Morocco. A film that combines documentary techniques with an inventive narrative structure and uses 3D animation would be enough to make it a unique work. But what makes it a singular piece is its disarming and affecting honesty, its surrealism belied with deep reality issues and emotional drama.
Thirty-five-year-old Bouchra, a Moroccan filmmaker living in New York, has reached an artistic dead end. She sits in front of an unfinished screenplay, unable to decide how to tell the story of her journey from Casablanca to New York or how honest she should be about her life as a queer woman. The film she wants to make is autobiographical, but painful memories and unresolved family issues leave her creatively paralyzed. As obvious and predictable in this kind of art feature, the film BOUCHRA wants to make is the one the audience sees. Does the audience care? Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani do their thing and do not bother with whether the audience cares or not. They just tell their story in their own way, which makes the film both fresh and interesting to non-commercial audiences and frustrating and a tad confusing for commercial audiences,
The confusion and freshness of the film compete as the narrative constantly shifts between Bouchra's present-day life in New York, scenes from the film she is trying to create,
memories of growing up in Morocco, and actual-style phone conversations with her mother. One scene, when Bouchra is talking to her mother while making a dish in the microwave, is distracting and annoying. The fact that Bouchra does not don a human face also does not allow her character to express emotions
In the real world, Bouchra’s life in New York, Bouchra continues living within New York's queer artistic community. She spends time with friends, goes to clubs, has romantic and sexual relationships, and discusses filmmaking with collaborators. Yet despite this freedom, she still hides important parts of her life from her mother. The contrast becomes one of the film's central tensions: New York represents self-expression. Casablanca represents family, tradition, and unresolved emotional ties.
The many questions raised in the film are left hanging, as expected in art films where the solution is not the goal but the journey towards it. Does Bouchra reconcile with her mother, who, with her father, kicked her out when she came out as gay? Does Bouchra succeed in making her film? How does her settling in New York as a queer immigrant end up, and how does Boxcar reconcile the two cultures? This results in an artsy, confusing, and annoying film despite its different approach,
BOUCHRA opens July 3rd at the TIFF Lightbox with limited screenings.
Trailer:
