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‘Everybody Loves Touda’ Review: Nabil Ayouch’s Feminist Musical Drama Only Really Sings When Its Leading Lady Does
Nabil Ayouch's 'Everybody Loves Touda' sells us on its passion for traditional Aita singing, but the connective drama is rather less compelling.
Ayouch’s script, written in collaboration with his wife and fellow filmmaker Maryam Touzani (“The Blue Caftan”), showcases these virtues via a somewhat one-dimensional narrative of challenge, triumph, setback and renewal, with the patriarchy as her hulking adversary in all contexts. When, eventually, she decides to strike out on her own in Casablanca, a small handful of benevolent elders aid her way: not just her unusually permissive parents, who agree to look after Yassine while she finds her feet, but a twinkly-eyed veteran violinist (El Moustafa Boutankite) who, struck by her talent, becomes her mentor in the art of Aita. Picking up on the gold-and-ruby tones of Touda’s stage wardrobe, Virginie Surdej’s limber camera slides and shimmies around her like a fully seduced audience member, culminating in an immersive, near-20-minute sequence shot following our heroine’s climactic performance at a high-rise, high-rolling Casablanca venue — a seemingly make-or-break moment that doesn’t go entirely to plan.
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