DOC NYC Capsule reviews :Iranian Edition GOOGOOSH MADE OF FIRE and MY STOLEN PLANET

GOOGOOSH – MADE OF FIRE 
Portrait of actress and singer Googoosh who was one of the biggest performers in the world until she was placed under arrest by Iranian authorities. Eventually freed she moved to the US and staged a come back. She is an outspoken opponent to the Iranian regime. This is a really good portrait of a woman who has been struggling to lead her life in her own way. It's a film full o f great music and conversation as Googoosh performs and sits down and talks to the filmmakers of her life.

Recommended.

MY STOLEN PLANET

Director Farahnaz Sharifi charts what life was like after the Iranian revolution. Using old home movies, recollections and recreations she shows the hidden life of women in the repressive country. It's a heady mix of a world most of the world was unaware of. It's a stunning piece of filmmaking that will make you ponder the furture not only for Iran but the rest of the world.

Recommended.

Universal Language (2024) NYFF 2024

 

I started laughing almost from the first frame and continued doing so until the end credits. I laughed more at this film than almost any American comedy of the last two decades.

At the outset the plot of UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE seems to be several different stories. The truth is it’s all one big interconnected tale, you just have to stick with it until all the pieces line up.  Don't worry that isn’t going to be a problem because the film is going to be making you laugh out loud for most of its running time.

The humor is very much absurdist of the best sort. Think of it as something akin to the manic madness of a Marx Brothers comedy but with a more modern and less devil may care attitude.  Referencing the Marx’s may make you wonder how that is possible, but something happens in the first few minutes that makes you realize that is the absurdist territory we are operating in. (I will not spoil it)

What I love about the film is that the humor isn’t dry or forced.  Too many absurdist comedies don’t feel real and feel like they are trying to make a point. Eugène Ionesco’s plays which are excellent absurdist pieces, can, when done badly feel forced. Here there is things feel silly absurd but they also feel grounded. We can see the things that happen actually happen.  I can see myself trying to figure out how to get stuck money, deal with stolen glasses or pretty much anything else that happens here including dealing with turkeys.

I laughed out loud from start to finish, and when I wasn’t laughing I was smiling.

And I know there is more to this film beyond the laughs, but the laughs and smiles are what I took away from the film, so that is what I am reporting on.

I love this film.

Highly recommended.

A pointer toward Seven Days (2024) Toronto 2024

An Iranian activist is quietly released from prison so she can get medical treatment and to see her family. During the trip the woman has to decide if she is going to flee.

This is a good political drama involving Iran that has the unfortunate problem of being one of an increasing number of similar films.  On it’s own terms it’s a solid piece of filmmaking, however if you are someone like me  it is also similar to a number of recent films (Including other films also playing at TIFF). Because of this I can’t honestly say anything that this is a good film and if the subject interests you it’s worth seeing.

Worth a look

The Witness (2024) Venice 2024

A woman sees a politically connected man kill his wife, a dance instructor. However because of his connection the cops they won’t do anything. Will she give up or search for justice.

Damning portrait of Iranian society is a long pained scream. This is a film where men  are constantly complaining about how the women can’t do anything without their say lest it ruin their standing. Women are abused and literally killed because they are less then men. This is a film that shows just how stacked against women Iranian justice is.

Unfortunately THE WITNESS is so set on making it’s point that that film slips from compelling drama into being a polemic. This is a film that very much wants to make it’s point and it does so loudly, repeatedly. After a while I kind of tuned out as the filmmakers didn’t make their points but yelled them at me at volume.

And then strangely the final scene came…and I was completely shocked. I’m not going to say what happens but the ending sequence is truly one of the greatest endings of the last decade. It is so unexpected and note perfect  that it makes watching the rest of the film worth it. I don’t know if it’s remotely realistic but god damn it is emotionally dead on.

It really is a stunner.

If you want to see a great ending and get really pissed off at Iran I recommend THE WITNESS

MEEZAN (SCALE) (2023) NDNF 2024

Shahab Mihandoust’s portrait of the fishing industry in Iran’s Khuzestan province is a stunner. A three part tale the film follows what happens on the boats, on the wharf where they doc ans in the processing lpant where the fish ends up.

This film is a visual and audio stunner. I described the film as one of the most "you are there" films I've ever run across. Mihandoust’s puts us in the thick of things, do so in a way that doesn't make us just an observer but a participant. 

As for the audio, it's as environmentally perfect as they come. What makes the film so special is that we don't have the absolute pinpoint perfection of most films, you know where every sound is perfectly placed and so it creates an unreal world. Here instead is soundtrack that puts us in a place. I mention this because when I asked about getting access to the film I received an email from Mr. Mihandoust who told me if I did not see the film in a cinema I absolutely must wear headphones. He was dead on right. Never have I ever experienced a place via audio quite like this. I actually replayed several sections of the film just so I could close my eyes and really take in the sound. This needs to be in the Oscar race for best sound design.

Technical achievements aside the film is magnificent. If documentaries are supposed to show us things we never knew, this film does it in spades. Sure I've seen films, both documentary and narrative on fishing, but never have I understood how it all fits together. Additionally this is a film that really puts s into the lives of everyone on screen.

This is one of the best films at this year's New Director's New Films and one of the most amazing films I've seen in 2024.

Go see this big and loud and be amazed.

WHAT DID YOU DREAM LAST NIGHT, PARAJANOV? First Look Fest 2024

 

Filmmaker Faraz Fesharaki mixes some home video footage of when he was child performing in a school pageant with zoom calls between himself and other members of his family who have scattered all over the world after leaving Iran. Over the course of the film we see the state of the family and the country they left behind.

I’m going to be honest this film didn’t work for me. The fact that we are simply listening to family conversations is interesting for a while, but there was a point about a third of the way in where I kind of stopped caring.  The film is much too static with everyone sitting or laying down and simply talking to the camera. While what they are saying is interested there isn’t enough here to keep my interest. My gaze kept drift despite Fesharaki efforts to make it compelling.  Perhaps this will play differently in a darkened theater, but at home watching a review copy I drifted.

Achilles (2023) plays Saturday at First Look Fest 2024

It has been a over a week since I first saw ACHILLES and I am still haunted. This is a road trip to oppression that forces you to really ponder freedom, personal and artistic.

This is the story of a man named Achilles. Working at a hospital with orthopedics. Late one night  he is called to the psyche It seems a woman has broken  her hand from punching the wall, This is Hedieh, she is a political prisoner who is being held and medicated. Achilles becomes intrigued by her and he decides to take her out.

This is a film you need to just buy a ticket for and just watch, preferably in a theater where the world can be pushed away and the film can just happen. I say that because this is a deliberately made film that uses long takes, silences and intriguing visual cues that you need to really pay attention to. I say that because I got to a certain point and I had a grand "ah ha" moment and I saw how it was all going together before the narrative sucked me back into it.

I was rocked. Partly because the film is so good, and partly because the film has a great deal to say about creatives trapped in an oppressive regime. Knowing that Achilles is a filmmaker who has given up filmmaking one can not help but think of Jafar Panahi who been arrested by Iranian authorities because he will not stop speaking his truth. The film will make you wonder how director Farhad Delaram, himself being a person who was detained by authorities, made the film in Iran.

This is an amazing film you need to see.

Do yourself a favor and buy a ticket and get lost. Give yourself over to it's very deliberate pacing and construction and be moved.

Highly recommended

Siren (2023) closes Animation First 2024 Sunday

1980 the Iran Iraq war begins when Iraq attacks the oil producing city of Abadan. As his brother goes to fight and the rest of his family flees, Omid decides to stay behind to help his grandfather tend their groves. However the war has other plans for the young man.

I initially wasn't connecting to this film. There was something about the set up that didn't click with me. However once the family leaves, and Omid is moving around in the city  meeting people the film clicks into high gear and it kept me staring at the screen not wanting to look away lest I missed something.

There is much to recommend this film. From the mere fact that we are seeing a film about a war we, in America, never talk about, to the fact that the film is showing us a side of war I've never run across before. There is something about the way the film shows us a whole city trying to survive that makes it something special.

I was deeply moved. While the film is very deliberately constructed, the opening sequence which seems slightly out of place pays off at the end, the film still feels organic and alive. Yes the situations maybe connected together to tell an expansive story, but the incidents and people are dead on real. How people react feels honest and true, more than in most similar war films where everyone becomes a type.

There was a point somewhere in the middle where I was shocked, first that I didn't like it to start, and second I was floored that more people weren't talking about it. This is simply a great tale full of life and humanity that we all need to see.

One of my early editions to my end of year lists, I can not wait to see it again and to share it with friends and family.

Highly recommended.

In The Land of Brothers (2024) Sundance 2024

An Afghan family moves to Iran and spends decades living and waiting for citizenship, and most importantly a place where they belong.

This is a very good look at a side of life most of us really haven';t considered. Sure we have seen numerous films about being a migrant or a refugee, but we haven't seen one from the perspective of a family moving through Muslim Nations. More times than not it's a trip to Europe. While Europe figures into the tale it's not the focus. I mention this up front because this focus is what makes the film instantly worth seeing.

I really liked IN THE LAND OF BROTHERS a great deal. It's a film that took me a little bit to get into, I was expecting something slightly different, so I didn't warm to it at first. Then somewhere along the way I clicked with it's rhythms and was carried along. I loved that no one and nothing is what I expected, so much so that the ending, the final images moved me deeply...and more importantly haunted me as I went through the rest of my day after watching it.

This is one you'll want to see. 

Recommended

Seven Winters in Tehran (2023) HRW 2023

Hands down the best film at this years New York edition of The Human Rights Watch Film Festival SEVEN WINTERS IN TEHRAN is going to kick you to the curb and leave you feeling numb. It's a must see film that will make you angry beyond words.

The film is the story of Reyhaneh Jabbari who was sentenced to die after she killed the man who tried to rape after he broke into her house. As she headed to the gallows her family and friends tried to free her and ended up helping many other people along the way.

In all honesty I have no words. At a time where women are struggling to retain control of their bodies, stories like this show how bad things can get. It's stories like this that perfectly explain why people don't particularly good things to say about the leadership of Iran or about religious groups that advocate the lesser place of women. 

I was pretty much depressed from start to finish. By the time the film ended I just sat staring at the screen wondering why I bothered to see the film and pondering how I could kill everyone in the Iranian leadership (That's not a serious threat simply an expression about my complete and utter disgust for everyone involved in the prosecution).

While it speaks specifically to what happened in Iran, SEVEN WINTERS is a dire warning from the front line of the war against women. This is what can and will happen if backward thinking and hatred for half the population of the earth is allowed to take root.

You will forgive me if this isn't a proper review, but SEVEN WINTERS isn't a typical film, rather it's a call to arms and plea to do something since it reveals quite clearly how good people are dying for bigoted reasons.

A must see.

SEVEN WINTERS IN TEHRAN plays the Human Rights Watch Film Festival May 31st at Lincoln Center and June 7 at the IFC Center. 

For more information and tickets go here

WORLD WAR 3 (2022) Fantaspoa 2023

Iran’s entry for last years Oscar is kick in the pants. I completely understand why the film was chosen for a run at the Oscars and I’m  completely at a loss as to why the film hasn’t had more buzz surrounding it. Then again the film comes from Iran and it deals with difficult subjects.

The film concerns a day laborer who is in a relationship with a deaf woman. When one of his jobs puts him on a movie set he finds his fortunes are changing. However his bringing his girlfriend to the set and his getting a role in the film, which is about the Holocaust, spins things out of control.

This is a difficult film, partly because the subject matter is heavy but the whole layer of Holocaust deepens the feelings of a world out of balance. While you might think that the mixture might be showboating, the truth is the  mixture works and it forces us to really consider what we are seeing.  When the film ended my first thought was I had to see the film again, which was followed by my thought that I would wait for the film to get off the festival circuit because I need to get some distance.

You will forgive me if I don’t do a lot of discussing of the film, my thoughts have yet to transfer from the pure emotional reaction I had to the film into words I can express.

What I can say is that it’s nice to see a film that was picked to be in the Oscar mix that belonged there. I also love that this film completely blindsided me and left me staring at the screen trying desperately to get the words to full engage with it.

While not for everyone, I think this is easily one of the best films I saw at Fantaspoa.

Highly recommended. 

NO BEARS (2022) Opens Friday at the Film Forum

Jafar Panahi travels to a border town in order to direct a  movie remotely. The actors and film crew are across the border and are taking directions via Zoom.  As Panahi struggles to get the film finished be becomes involved with two sets of lovers, two of the actors, and two people in the village where he is staying. Both pairs want to flee to somewhere safe, something that might not be possible

Panahi is not loved by the Iranian government. As this film was hitting the festival circuit the director was being put into prison. Prior to that they had tried to restrict his ability to make films but he managed to work around the obstructions. The result has been a unique series of films where the filmmaker is the subject and the films transcends the notion of autobiographical cinema.

This time out Panahi has made one of his most affecting films. Forget his personal situation, this story of life in a small town and in a repressive country will leave you shattered at the end. Panahi is juggling a lot of balls in the air and manages to manipulate them perfectly. First we have his situation which is basically hiding out in a small town to make a movie he shouldn't be making. In showing us what it takes to make his film we see how the small minds of the village express an openness that really isn't. there This ties into the story of one of the couples, a doomed romance Panahi captures in a photo, that everyone wants to see, but which he deletes and denies having. It seems the young woman has been promised since birth to someone she doesn't love and that someone needs proof to hurt the girls true love.  At the same time the lead couple in Pahani's film are making a film based on their lives and their efforts to flee to the West. However the need for official documents complicate things. All of the threads end in darkness for the characters and soul searching for the audience.

I love Panahi's films. I make every effort to see every one I can because he always speaks a truth that needs to be heard. I also find that how he is forced to make films ends up making films that are much more real than if were making just a straight narrative.  They are so much more interesting because we have to think about how he did what is up on the screen. His are films that are alive and in the moment.

I was rocked by this film. I did not expect the turns, and yet every one is perfectly placed.

One of the best films I saw at this years New York Film Festival, it is a must for anyone who loves humanity.

No Bears (2022) NYFF 2022

Jafar Panahi travels to a border town in order to direct a  movie remotely. The actors and film crew are across the border and are taking directions via Zoom.  As Panahi struggles to get the film finished be becomes involved with two sets of lovers, two of the actors, and two people in the village where he is staying. Both pairs want to flee to somewhere safe, something that might not be possible

Panahi is not loved by the Iranian government. As this film was hitting the festival circuit the director was being put into prison. Prior to that they had tried to restrict his ability to make films but he managed to work around the obstructions. The result has been a unique series of films where the filmmaker is the subject and the films transcends the notion of autobiographical cinema.

This time out Panahi has made one of his most affecting films. Forget his personal situation, this story of life in a small town and in a repressive country will leave you shattered at the end. Panahi is juggling a lot of balls in the air and manages to manipulate them perfectly. First we have his situation which is basically hiding out in a small town to make a movie he shouldn't be making. In showing us what it takes to make his film we see how the small minds of the village express an openness that really isn't. there This ties into the story of one of the couples, a doomed romance Panahi captures in a photo, that everyone wants to see, but which he deletes and denies having. It seems the young woman has been promised since birth to someone she doesn't love and that someone needs proof to hurt the girls true love.  At the same time the lead couple in Pahani's film are making a film based on their lives and their efforts to flee to the West. However the need for official documents complicate things. All of the threads end in darkness for the characters and soul searching for the audience.

I love Panahi's films. I make every effort to see everyone I can because he always speaks a truth that needs to be heard. I also find that how he is forced to make films ends up making films that are much more real than if were making just a straight narrative.  They are so much more interesting because we have to think about how he did what is up on the screen. His are films that are alive and in the moment.

I was rocked by this film. I did not expect the turns, and yet every one is perfectly placed.

One of the best films I saw at this years New York Film Festival, it is a must for anyone who loves humanity.

Doggy Love (2021) Slamdance 2022

This is the story of two Aslan and Yanni who run an undeground an underground dog shelter in Iran. Its underground because dogs are viewed as dirty.

This is a raw loook at two people struggling to help the animals they love. It's a verite look at the pair and what they do which is very much like being there.

While I really like this film a great deal I kind of wish there was a little bit of an explanation of what the situation is going in. Running a brief 62 minutes I felt like I was just dropped into the middle of everything and left to flounder. While I picked up things as I went I wish I had a bit more information at the star if only so I didn't feel I missed something in the opening minutes

Recommended.

Killing the Eunuch KHAN (2021) Slamdance 2022

I'm not going to lie, Killing the Eunuch KHAN is narratively a mess. It has a great deal going on and after the first section I'm not sure it holds together. That said this is one of the most visually arresting films in years. It is a masterclass in the se of space and camera movements. Its such a kick in the pants visually that it is one of the must see films of Slamdance 2022.

I'm not sure what the really is plot is. The promo material says something about a serial killer using his victims to get victims and it also mentions the plot of the first section which is about a father and his two daughtrs who get caught in a bombing during the Iran Iraq War. After that some other things happen but I'm not as clear as tohow it all ties together. What the film really is is an allegory about the horrors of war, of how men in high places are killing us. Its clear that director Abed Abest has somethings to say as the river of blood in the first part of the film colors everything.

I will be forever haunted by the images in this film.Abest has created images that are now burned into my soul including the image of the river of blood filling a bomb crater. The camera movements, the use of color and the use of space all produce a visceral effect that is truly disturbing.

While I am truly in love with the craft of the film and while I can complain that the film may not hold it's narrative together, the film still packs a punch. There is a deeply visceral quality to everything that works behind our eyes in order to leave us deeply disturbed.  When I finished the film I thought I was going to sit down and toss off a few lines about the images and such but as I walked into the kitchen to get a drink I found myself disturbed. There was something about the way the film played out that left me feeling uneasy. Something about it kicked me in the chest.

I need to revisit this film referably on a really big screen where I can't look away.

Killing the Eunuch KHAN is a stunner on it's own terms and is recomended.

Hit The Road (2021) NYFF 2021

 

HIT THE ROAD is 90 minutes with good people.  Its an often delightful, frequently thoughtful road trip across Iran that will make you smile as it makes you think.

The plot of the film has a family traveling to the North of Iran. There is a bit of paranoia. They fear they are being followed. They panic when they realize the six year old brought his cellphone. There are car problems and things happen which I won’t get into since the point of the film is the journey.

This is a delightful film. For me this is one of the finds of this year’s New York Film Festival. I did not go into the festival planning on seeing the film, but things lined up in such away that I could see it and I am so glad that happened.

The reason I fell in love with the film and got sucked in was the non-stop craziness of Rayan Sarlak as the youngest member of the family. He is a delight. He’s the constant reminder that there is life beyond the seriousness of it all. Basically he is a hand of god mixing things up. I couldn’t help but roar with laughter as he tries desperately to keep his cellphone in case his girlfriend calls him. He know s if he doesn’t answer she will drop him. Even at six he is having problems with women.

Because of Sarlak I fell in love the rest of his family. Sarlak‘s nonsense made me connect and care about everyone else.

After seeing the film I read several reviews of the film and all of them spoke about how the film is director Panah Panahi‘s first film and his place in the pantheon of Iranian filmmakers, that include his father. That’s nice but for me the fact that he simply has made a great film is more important than any lineage.

HIT THE ROAD is a great film and highly recommended

The Badger (2021) Winter Film Awards 2021

 

This is a strange film.

A divorced woman who is about to get married a second time has her son kidnapped. As she struggles to get the ransom she finds she has to reconnect with her ex-husband.

Where this is going and an entire subplot about her house being cleared of termites by a man with a badger is what makes this an odd film.  Its so odd  that I kept watching the film not because I necessarily liked it, rather because I had to see where it was going. Tonally the film is all over the place, and it’s outcome left me shaking me head.

Its not a bad film, rather it’s a film that has its own off kilter world view and its going to stick with it.

If you want to see a one of a kind film, I highly recommended it. All others proceed with caution.

Ballad of a White Cow (2020) Tribeca 2021

This is the story of Mina, a woman who is informed that the execution of her husband, a year earlier, was a mistake. He was innocent and that the authorities now know who the killer was. They apologize and say that there is nothing really they can do because it was the will of god. As she tries to recover from the blow, her husband’s family attempt to get her daughter away from her, saying she is not raising her correctly. Into the fray comes a mysterious man who seems nice but actually has an ulterior motive.

This is a good little drama highlighting the problem with capital punishment. It clearly shows the damage that is left behind when the wrong man dies. At the same time the film is burdened with a heavy dose of melodrama with some of the turns coming out of the need to keep the thriller like structure moving along.

And please allow me an aside--Watching the film I became troubled, not because of anything in the film, but because this is yet another heavy drama from Iran. Don’t these people laugh? Is there no music? It seems for whatever reason the only films that come to America and play the festivals and such are bleak dramas saying how wrong the society is and how terrible the people, particularly the men are. Here for example all the men are asses  and out for any money they can grab. I am so weary now of the darkness I never want to see another film from Iran again because I know this can’t be all there is any more than believing that every person from the country is a religious nut.

Reservations aside. BALLAD OF A WHITE COW is worth a look for those looking for a serious film.

The Great Leap (2021) Fantaspoa 2021

THE GREAT LEAP haunts me. It is the first film in a very long time that when it ended had me staring at the screen wondering what the hell I had just seen and itching to see it again. It is a film that I didn’t have any sort of an opinion of, however I was absolutely delighted that the film that I had encountered a film that challenged me and forced me to not only work with it but also to consider what it was trying to tell me. I adored that here was a film that was the best of all possible films, one that plays by its own rules and shakes up what I think of as cinema.

The plot of the film has a woman contacted by the brother of her ex-husband. It seems that ten years earlier she had given birth to a deformed child with a big head. Everyone thought there was something wrong but the hospital wouldn’t kill the sickly infant. The father and his brother then took the baby into the desert with the intention of burying it alive. However they couldn’t find it in themselves to do so and gave the child to an old woman, sending her money for his care. Now the woman has died and no one wants to care for the child. Heading off with her ex-brother in law the woman goes to find the child she thought was dead.

What follows is a mystical journey that is largely unlike anything you’ve seen before. Sure there are echoes of other road films and quest films but filmmaker Karim Lakzadeh bends things for his own purposes. The result is a film that feels one of a kind. In trying to describe the film I keep wanting to say that “it is kind of like X, but not really”. What ever X I come up with is only a poor approximation of the way things really are.

The bitch about THE GREAT LEAP is I am still processing it but I need to get a review up because the film is playing right now at the Fantaspoa Film Festival. I am torn between being able to write the film up and do it justice but at the same time waiting until I have the correct words might prevent you from seeing the film before the festival ends. If you love off the beaten path films you NEED to see this film.

Right now I know  I definitely like the film, hell I watched it twice in twelve hours, however I am still unpacking it. I’m desperately trying to get distance from it but I can’t seem to do that. The final sequence is playing over and over in my brain. I don’t know why.  At a time when so many films are things that I watch, then write up before completely forgetting, THE GREAT LEAP is a film I can’t shake- hell I’ve watched it twice more or less in a row. I rarely do that.

Ultimately I highly recommend THE GREAT LEAP to anyone who wants a film that is unlike any other, which is most of the regular readers of Unseen Films. I also recommend it to adventurous film goers and anyone who doesn’t want all the answers or a Hollywood style film.

THE GREAT LEAP is streaming for free at the Fantaspoa Film Festival (which is geo-locked for Brazil)

Nasrin (2020) Globe Docs

Portrait of Nasrin Sotoudeh an Iranian attorney who has been fighting for human rights, women's right, ad children's right for years despite she keeps getting thrown in jail for bucking the system.

NASRIN is deeply moving look at one woman who who striving to help the downtrodden people of Iran. Always willing to fight she is always trying to balance her numerous cases with raising her family. She is in many ways the better self we should all aspire to be.

What I love about the film is it is something more than just a portrait of Nasrin but there things as well. For example the film shows us this split in Iranian society with the ruling religious zealots at the top controlling everything and the rest of the people. Watching the people around Nasrin you get a sense of the the wide armed and welcoming people that reporter Ann Curry found when she went to interview Nasrin several years ago. You also get a look at the Iranian justice system which seems to be run by a bunch of guys terrified of losing control to women. The judges are clearly irked when Nasrin, a mere woman, comes before them. Lastly the film is a glorious love story between Nasrin and her husband Reza Khandan. Watching the two interact like young lovers will make you giddy.

Unfortunately the film is also a wake up call to keep Nasrin alive. She was recently found guilty of security related offenses and tssed in jail  where the sentence was said to be either 7 year or 10 years and 148 lashes plus another 36 years on other charges. Clearly the Iranians are afraid of the this feisty woman.

An excellent portrait of a woman and her time NASRIN is highly recommended.