"The Yacoubian Building" is an outstanding piece of filmmaking, painted with broad brushstrokes yet given to fine detail in its characters and setting. As you might expect, the building in the title is the film’s most engaging and complex character.

Constructed in Cairo in 1937 by an American, the opulent building was then a haven for wealthy residents. Its occupants now are a few down on their luck business types and those trying to hang on to past glories. The largest group of tenants actually lives on the roof of the Yacoubian. They are displaced families and refugees who have created a village (complete with chickens) on top of the once grand structure.

It’s not hard to make the connection between the crumbling edifice of the building and the society and culture that roils inside and outside its stone and mortar.

First time feature length director Marwan Hamed works from a script written by Waheed Hamed, and based on a novel by Alaa El-Aswani. These names and the talents of most of the cast are well known in Egyptian cinema. The film is groundbreaking on many levels. It is the most expansive and expensive production there to date. What astounds, however, are the stories of the people we meet. Politics and corruption, Islamic terrorism, and homosexuality are not usually story lines that are explored in films from Egypt. The film’s running time of nearly three hours is time well spent, and "The Yacoubian Building" is…

Highly recommended.