The peak of the 1980s wave of films known as “Egyptian New Realism,” and the most captivating film by Mohamed Khan, the director behind the most comprehensive project of his generation, The Street Player is the second installment of a loose trilogy that began with The Bird of the Road and concluded with Knight of the City. A trilogy whose protagonist embodies the image of the contemporary Egyptian as seen by Khan.

“Faris” is both his name and his core: the name refers in Arabic to the concept of chivalry, the ownership of a special moral code and committing to it, even if everyone disagrees. Faris is a talented street football player, but his stardom is fading, and his family, professional, and psychological lives are facing an ordeal that he is unsure how to overcome. However, he continues to face life in his own way, as if it were a competitor facing him on the field.

Said Shimi’s camera captures 1980s Cairo as it was, without any plastic surgery, while Adel Emam, the legendary star of Egyptian cinema, delivers a poetic performance his audience is unfamiliar with, touching on a delicate vulnerability that popular cinema shies away from. The repression of an entire generation is embodied by a street player in a torn shirt, gasping for air. — AHMED SHAWKY