Adventures on the Internet

In this domestic drama Clint Eastwood plays divorcee Wes Block, a single parent trying to balance the demands of a full-time job with the pressures of bringing up a young family in New Orleans.

The household comprises his two daughters, a collection of pet dogs, and Mrs Holstein, the part-time housekeeper/childminder. Block enjoys a strained relationship with his ex-wife and her new partner, creating a sense of uncertainty that hangs over the children's future. Their feelings of insecurity are further heightened by Block's frequent nocturnal absences, resulting from both his anti-social working hours, and a growing interest in exploring the boundaries of his sexuality in the city's red light district.

In the course of his day job Block also strikes up a relationship with Beryl Thibodeaux, a counsellor from the women's centre, and this helps him to steer his desires towards a more conventional path. However when Leander Rolfe, the serial killer he has been tracking breaks into Block's home killing Mrs Holstein and traumatising his daughters, all thoughts of romance are hastily cast aside. The pursuit of Rolfe becomes Block's top priority, and following some excellent investigatory police work, the miscreant is swiftly caught but regrettably killed whilst attempting to resist arrest.

The storyline offers a realistic account of the manifold demands of modern day lifestyles. Block's circumstances - single parenthood, high pressure job, unconventional sexual appetite, barbarians at the gate - are the very stuff of everyday life. It would be an incurious viewer indeed who did not subsequently examine his or her own life choices.

Layale, Nisrine and Rima work in a Beirut beauty salon. The fabric of their lives is interwoven around various personal relationships, the flow of customers through their salon, and their neighbour 'Tante' Rose (a seamstress).
Pursuing generally liberal lifestyles, each woman bumps up against the more traditional elements of Lebanese society. Scenes of Nisrine (soon to be married) visiting Dr Stambouli for a couple of stitches to restore her virginity in preparation for the wedding night are carefully juxtaposed with shots of Rose, busy at her sewing machine. Sensual imagery of Rima washing the hair of a beautiful female customer emphasises her suppressed sexuality. Layale spends much of her work day either arranging or undertaking illicit liaisons with her married lover. In this way an uneasy accommodation between secular lifestyles and traditional beliefs in the Levant is portrayed, whilst evoking the feel of the Near East and showcasing the ancient and still-beautiful city of Beirut.
The caramel of the title refers to the sugary concoction cooked up in the salon for use as a depilatory, and its deployment leads to a few 'sharp-intake-of-breath' moments for male and female viewer alike. Caramel the film is a charming, gentle, amusing work that deserves a wide audience.

Essential viewing.