A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

always love these beautiful foreign movies, Nadine Labaki has made such a beautiful piece of art showing feminine side of beautiful and romantic land of Lebanon. loved the way nadine labaki has shown different women from different religions but same culture of co- existence in Lebanon. loved the scene when traffic warden gives a visit to her beauty saloon. he looks kinda cute in that scene...while nadine labaki with her very dominating and beautiful eyes was looking so gorgeous.I hope she will keep making such beautiful movies showing different life styles of Lebanese people.

The Lebanese move Sukkar banat is shown in the U.S. with the title Caramel. It was co-written and directed by Nadine Labaki, who also stars in the movie.The film is set in and around a beautician's salon. (The title is derived from the fact that warm caramel is used as a beauty product in Lebanon.) The women who work in the shop, their clients, and their friends and relatives make up the cast. The plot revolves around their interactions and their romantic attachments.The women are likable, attractive, and are supportive of each other. None of them has a stable, loving relationship. For example, one woman is at the beck-and-call of a married man. This disrupts the operation of the salon, and is clearly (to everyone but the woman herself) a dead-end street. Lebanon is a county that is roughly half Muslim and half Christian. The nation has certainly had its share of sectarian strife. However, this movie doesn't address any of the political problems of Lebanon. It's a movie about relationships, not politics. The women in the film respect the beliefs of their co-workers, which lowers tensions for them and for us as viewers. We saw this film on DVD, and it worked on the small screen. It's not a "must-see," but it's certainly worth finding and viewing.

The ammunition is there: a 'sweet' film revolving around several young to middle aged women living their lives, warts 'n' all, in a film entitled 'Caramel'. The dismissive headlines labelling the film syrupy and sugar coated just write themselves. How pleasing then, that the film is anything but; and acts as a stark eye-opener that films of this ilk can come from certain parts of the world that are war torn and less than brimming with a rich and popular film industry. In fact, Lebanese film Caramel practically shelves the idea of a war-torn nation and instead delves deep inside the nation with the city of Beruit specifically cut open, laying bare the people within it. And not just any people; five or so women of varying ages with varying problems and facing varying situations. How refreshing that the film prefers to detail woman-hood in this secluded and prior to this film, shut off designated region.The first thing that strikes me after some further research is just how inexperienced the cast is. Perhaps this was deliberate from female director Nadine Labaki, who herself stars in the film. Perhaps she is aiming for one of those ultra-realistic portrayals of life within by enlisting nobody actors essentially hired to play themselves as women of the nation, age and consequently generation that they are. The women in question are Layale (Labaki), who works in a beauty salon along with two other women, Nisrine (Al Masri) and Rima (Moukarzel). The situations each respective women face are that Layale is stuck in a dead-end relationship with a married man; Nisrine has already slept with a man but is set to be married within the Arab world, in which pre-marital sex is not accepted while Rima is finding herself more and more attracted to women.What I find quite fitting given these characters and the consequent breaking down of imagery is the fact that early on, one character looks at themselves in a mirror within the beauty parlour, and makes a fuss over how 'pretty' she's supposed to look. It's this recognition of what people are 'supposed' to be or how the world demands they look when, in actual fact, free choice and individuality should rule over anything else. We are, after all, looking at characters who are either: attracted to the same gender as they are; have gone against ancient tradition by having sex before marriage with the other one daring to threaten already established relationships by being attracted to another married man.So the study, and the identification of it, is put across very early on and in sly, rather comic fashion. From here, the film branches out into what is essentially a brooding drama with subtle hints of romance. This is no definitive genre piece with a specific arc, more a statement or a documentation of lives lived in a specific place by those whom should know what it's like to live them. The sense of authority is most definitely prominent. A policeman gives someone a parking ticket, but is challenged and struggles somewhat by the woman that does so; someone else is pulled over for not wearing a seat-belt and two people are arrested for sitting in a car talking to one another. Two things crop up here: firstly, the director's sense that this is a minute study of a specific subject and the sense that everything comes under the light for examination, even the smallest things as would-be contemporary women living in Lebanon are broken down. Secondly, the sense of a dominant force – a presence that will clamp down on you in this life if you so much as ever so slightly slip up.But director Nadine Labaki is so assured of her subject matter and her overall project, she sprinkles in supporting characters in the shape of Jamale (Aouad), a regular customer at the salon who dreams of being an actress as well as Rose (Haddad), a tailor with a shop next to the salon, who is an old woman that has devoted her life to taking care of her mentally unbalanced older sister Lili (Semaan). These characters are developed to their own degree, Lili and Rose in particular acting as members of an 'older guard', or generation gone by now practically restricted to their indoor place of work, as they meet and greet a Frenchman that frequents their place of business on a regular basis.Layal, throughout this film, practically looks like Penelope Cruz's character out of 2006 effort Volver; a film that Caramel shares themes and ideas with. She hits upon the idea of using actual caramel as a wax; as a means of stripping away what is required. It is, indeed, the title of the film and acts somewhat neatly as the analogy for the film. That is, that the caramel is used to strip away certain things and the 'Caramel' that is the film acts as a stripping away of layers allowing us to look at contemporary Lebanese women. Caramel is an observed film; a film that creeps up on you in its study and leaves a nicely nourished feeling afterwards.

Centred around a beauty shop in Beirut, this is the story of five friends and colleagues, their lives and their relationships. Layal is stunning but seems oblivious to the attentions of a local policeman as she focuses all her efforts on a doomed relationship with a married man. Nisrine is engaged to be married but is concerned about her husband discovering she is not a virgin. Rima runs the beauty parlour and stays out of such emotional messes but finds herself drawn to a dark-haired customer. Jamale is older than these three friends and struggles to audition for acting roles against much younger and fresh women. Rose is older again and finds confusion when she experiences reciprocated feelings of love from one of her customers.Caramel came to the UK on the back of quite a lot of nominations and discussions of it being "one of the best foreign films" of the year. Fortunately I had forgotten this until after I watched it recently and it was a good thing too because I do not think that the film really deserves such chatter. It is understandable that it got it though because the film is accessible, engaging and quite charming and generally when this occurs in a foreign film it gets it exposure and, with exposure, hyperbole. So, OK it doesn't deserve the tags it got but this is not to say that it is a bad film because it is actually a very enjoyable little piece that is as charming as it is slight. The plot will be familiar to anyone who has watching Waiting to Exhale or any other film where a group of female friends have a central place/relationship that pulls them together while the film follows each of them in a different thread. When I have seen this done it does have a tendency towards mawkishness and corn, I guess because the makers figure that this is what the target female audience want.Caramel doesn't do this though. Yes it has emotion but it never feels forced or false and it comes over with charm and ease. It doesn't build to big weepy moments but rather has a consistently quirky appeal that I enjoyed a great deal. The stories are not heavy in detail but this helps them slide along with a nice smoothness that again compliments the feel of the film. The cast do well because they all deliver solid characters without ever tipping into easy melodrama or pushing it too hard. Labaki has the character that would be most likely to go this way but she holds it back and instead delivers a sympathetic and engaging lead. It helps that she is stunning as well. Equally stunning is Elmasri and she gives a bit more Iin the way of comedy in her role. Moukarzel has a "difficult" character when you think about it but she does well with a tomboyish charm and makes the most of her few scenes with her customer. Aouad doesn't have the looks to rely on like the others but her harsh character gives way to moments where her real feelings come through and it is easy to feel for her. Haddad isn't given much time to work with but she is good and her thread makes for a sweet ending to the sweet film.Like the title suggests, this is a very charming and sweet film that avoids melodrama or "big" emotional moments in favour of a lighter tone that makes it much more accessible and enjoyable.