Memory Box

Memory Box

2021 · 97 min · AR · 6.3 (30 votes)
Dir. Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige · Starring Manal Issa, Rim Turki, Paloma Vauthier, Clémence Sabbagh, Hasan Akil, Halim Abiad · Music Charbel Haber
Drama

Maia, a single mother, lives in Montreal with her teenage daughter, Alex. On Christmas Eve, they receive an unexpected delivery: notebooks, tapes, and photos Maia, from 13 to 18 years old, sent from Beirut to her best friend who left for Paris to escape the civil war. Maia refuses to open the box or confront its memories, but Alex secretly begins diving into it. Between fantasy and reality, Alex enters the world of her mother’s tumultuous, passionate adolescence during the Lebanese civil war, unlocking mysteries of a hidden past.

VIBE

A hauntingly beautiful exploration of buried pasts. It feels like sifting through old photographs, where echoes of war and lost love resurface, creating a tender, yet often painful, connection between mother and daughter.

melancholicintrospectivetensenostalgicslow-burncharacter-driven dramaarthousecoming-of-agememorytraumamother-daughter relationshipidentitywar
quebeclebanon warsuicide of fatherpainful memoriesdeath of brothermother daughter relationshiplebanonbeirut, lebanon