Egyptian director Kamal El-Shaikh maintains tension for two full hours throughout the improbably plotted El-Lailah el-Akhirah (US: Last Night), which begins with a woman named Nadya (Faten Hamamah) waking up one morning to discover she is married to her sister’s husband. Noir premises don’t get much better than this. Shocked and confused, Nadya soon learns that she has always been married to the abusive Shoukri (Mahmoud Moursy) and that her sister Fawzia had died in an explosion 16 years earlier. After Shoukri dismisses her confusion as symptoms of mental illness, Nadya sets off to locate her family, but they no longer live at the address she remembers. Soon, the kind, handsome Dr. Ahmed (Ahmad Mazhar) takes an interest in both Nadya and her situation, becoming her sole ally in peeling back the layers of her disorientation, which can only conclude with a fight to the death. Hamamah is excellent as the deceived wife, subtly creating physical distance between herself and her ominous husband in every scene, and Moursy effectively projects a threatening presence even when trying to console her. Don’t expect the visual pizzaz of American noir, but the story will pull you in and keep you stuck to your screen.