The Curve

Palestinian Radi (Ashraf Barhom, Paradise Now) lives alone in a blue VW camper van, where he seems to be as much a refugee from his own life as from any geographical location. As he makes his way across Jordan, he encounters others in similar straits: Laila is Palestinian but is returning to the Yourmouk camp in Syria after a failed marriage. When her taxi driver tries to rob her, Radi (somewhat unwillingly) comes to the rescue; Sami, meanwhile, is an exiled Lebanese television director whose car breaks down on the road to Irbid. Inside the van, the three talk about the places and people they'll never see again. Outside the van, fragments of memory flash by like scenery, and in the company of his fellow travelers, Radi gradually begins to open up. The most recent entry in a long catalogue of films from the Middle East on the experience of displacement, Rifqi Assaf's impressive debut feature is part road trip movie, part lyrical meditation on the perpetual journey that is exile. (Seattle International Film Festival)