6 Days Movie Review

6 Days was a vicarious cinematic vessel of love and ambition. Time travel was an essential element to the movie. Youssef and Alia began as two schoolchildren. They enjoyed hanging out with each other after classes got out. Sometimes, they'd go watch a movie together at the local theater. Any romance between them was left unwritten. From here on out, time rapidly accelerated. Several years went by and the two were suddenly young adults. A chance encounter reconnected them, igniting an elongated affair of lost and found. They'd try to meet again on that same day for every year going forward. Unfortunately, life got in the way and made it increasingly difficult to find time to meet. Circumstances were always evolving. Youssef studied to become a dentist until he decided to change careers. Alia's family moved away and she became a waitress. Their jobs continued to change alongside their personas. What never changed, though, was their buried love for one another. Lightning in a bottle had been caught when Youssef randomly recognized Alia after years gone by. Because Alia had moved to another city, distance was naturally created between her and Youssef. Feelings of attachment had been disregarded in favor of individual self-fulfillment. Familial pressures superseded youthful sentimentality. They were not in grade school anymore and faced the adult world now where earning a living was front of mind. They also couldn't really stop to smell the roses of what once was. Being merely limited to annual meetings meant there was little room for familiarity. Time dragged on and formality retreated into the shadows. Neither character dared make a move on each other as they'd gotten into relationships of their own. An invisible tension seemed to linger. Did Youssef regret not confessing his love for Alia back then? Did Alia even love him to begin with? Doubt orbited around them. Every consecutive meeting raised a chance to answer these burning questions in full. Yet, Youssef and Alia remained stubbornly guarded, bound by a mutual sense of guilt. It was like they had their shot to take, didn't shoot it, and then came back around to watch a replay of their blatant miss. Their friendship wasn't a failed state, but rather a sovereign nation. Rules weren't created yet, and the bond they shared remained outwardly distinctive. Alia moving away had left a void in Youssef's heart. Now, she was back and rejuvenating a bygone time. Both of them shared how they'd been faring. Both their families exerted pressure on them. Yet, there was a deeper dynamic, hidden between the lines of demand.

Emotion was tactfully conveyed in the storytelling. Melodrama was tuned to the right frequency, never becoming too cliché. For instance, during their childhood, Youssef and Alia felt an insatiable ecstasy for their collective future. It was fun to excel in academia and still find time to attend movie screenings. When Alia was forcibly separated from him, his internal flame dimmed. The joy of hanging out with his best friend on a daily basis was gone. He had unresolved feelings for her that couldn't be communicated anymore. Externally, he carried on, but internally, he was heartbroken. Youssef was later given space to admit his true feelings to Alia when they met again as grown adults. Suffice to say, he couldn't muster the courage needed to break this emotional barrier, at least initially. From the second act onward, things turned melodramatic. Youssef and Alia engaged in long monologues about how they'd truly felt after all these years — like a valve finally relieving pressure accumulated over time. And while the melodrama exhibited here was firm, it was also organic and earned. Until then, life had been a rollercoaster. Youssef went from being excited about his life to feeling embarrassed about his future. Alia continued to work mundane jobs and became numb to the quotidian grind of adulting, hoping that one day she might be with Youssef again. In a change of pace, the director decided to include quotes as bookmarks of time. Each quote was cerebral and informed the dialogue in its section. Ahmed Malek and Aya Samaha did an excellent job of articulating these ideas along with having great chemistry. I sensed their romantic minefield into the final act. Their facial expressions conveyed tattered trust and their costumes illustrated how they were doing at any given moment. No matter what, time marched on. Flashbacks were non-existent. If anything, we continually jumped forward by several years. Egyptian society evolved over the course of this movie. Technology modernized and family members moved on. Major events like Covid affected global welfare. But Youssef would always be Youssef and Alia would always be Alia — two bright-minded children divided by decades of longing.