So various of the critics whom I read continue to bang on about how Iranian movies are where it’s at. I’ve never seen one, but figured I’d take the jump and see what they’re talking about.
Where to start? Any suggestions for a five-movie, or thereabouts, primer on Iranian moviemaking? I know, I know, five movies barely scratches the surface of a country’s great cinematic . . . . etc. But it’s a start.
The Blackboard Jungle, in which Glenn Ford attempts to use his love of jazz to bond with his students in a tough inner-city Tehran school but Vic Morrow smashes all his records.
Sorry, the demons that prompted that smart-ass response based on this film have now been exorcised from my fingers. Haven’t seen it myself, but have heard from a couple of friends who did that it’s excellent.
Each year or so, the pretentious critical establishment decides to “like” a new politically-correct, obscure proto-Third World country’s film and fellate it as the best stuff being made. This is all bullshit, but it doesn’t stop the effete cultural elite from doing this.
Well . . . my OP is open to that possibility (and so, to be honest, is my own mind). There has definitely been a lot of critical wand-polishing (to continue the theme from the HP thread) of Iranian directors, and the suspicion has crossed my mind that the situation might be as you describe. So – maybe I should amend my third criterion to include “highly touted, but actually sucky, Iranian movies that will confirm the overratedness of the genre.”
I’m here to learn (though I’d rather find out the movies were great and fun to watch as, hey, we need more of those).
I have seen The day I became a woman. It deals with the position of woman in Iran by taking three specific moments: the day a girl has to start wearing a veil, a woman who wants to participate in a cycling contest, which causes her man to divorce her, and a widows who spends her inheritance.
The thing with Iranian movies, at least what I’ve heard about in general, is that they often directly or indirectly deal with the situation in Iran. If you have too strong preconceived notions about Iran, you won’t like them, because they’ll clash with those. Also, the films had to pass censorship, so the cricism is oblique and veiled. Some people chastize them for their lack of courage, which I find easy to say from a free country. I’m glad that there at least is some kind of expression possible.
Another thing to know beforehand is that these are indeed ‘artsy’ movies: if you want a Hollywood blockbuster by an Iranian director, forget it. Go watch X-Men or LOTR instead. However, if you do allow that movies can be about something else than fast-moving action and spectacular CGI, and that a story can unfold at a much more leisured pace, with a dialogue that says more by what it doesn’t say, you may be pleasantly surprised. Once I got ‘into’ the movie it did ‘touch’ me.
It is possible that critical reception is too positive, maybe partly for political reasons, but I find Freejocky’s dismissive attitude to be uninformed and unenlightening, to put it mildly.
I’ve seen Secret Ballot. I don’t think it’s that great of a movie at all. Very slow and very boring.
Children of Heaven is a wonderful movie. It made my mother feel right at home.
I saw ** White Balloon ** when it came out in the theater. I don’t remember much of it though since it was so long ago.
If you do decide to rent any Iranian movie and have any questions over the cultural aspects of the movie, you can email me (address in my profile). I can answer most questions. What I don’t know the answer to my mother would know.
I like Abbas Kiarostami’s films. A Taste of Cherry and The Wind Will Carry Us are good ones, that are also on DVD. However Kiarostami’s films tend to be slow moving, oblique, sometimes very abstract. For that reason alone people who are conditioned to mindless Hollywood action movies easily dislike them. For everyone else, they can be very rewarding films.
I have lost the titles of all the Iranian films I’ve seen. Children of Heaven is, indeed, one of the more Western-friendly ones. I am also remember one about a couple who are in love, and borrow a friend’s apartment for two hours, to spend time alone–most of the film is what they do in those two hours, in real time. Another is about a happy married couple who discover that they cannot have children; his family pressures him into taking a second wife (very, very depressing).
Children of Heaven is a good pick. It’s more accessible than a lot of Iranian films. Stuff like The White Balloon and Gabbeh are more for the art house crowd. You know who you are.
Freejooky’s comments are absurdly insulting. Critics conspire to promote the films of certain countries to advance their own political motives. Right
I’m sorry, what? How is The White Balloon only for art house crowds and Children of Heaven not? I haven’t seen Gabbeh, but The White Balloon is a sweet little story of a girl who gets some money to buy a goldfish but loses it in a grate. Most of the movie is her and her brother trying to figure out how to get the money out. It’s a charming little movie that would make an excellent double-feature with Children of Heaven, the story of a boy who loses his sister’s shoes and has to figure out how to get her another pair. The two movies are so similar it looked to me as if they were even filmed in the same place (courtyard apartments with a small goldfish pond in the middle). I even checked to see if the two little girls were played by the same actress, but they’re not.
Anyone with intelligent, thoughtful children of a reading age should consider getting both these delightful movies to introduce them to world cinema. After the first viewing they won’t need to read the subtitles anymore. They may even pick up some of the language.
I like Abbas Kiarostami myself. I haven’t seen much Iranian cinema beyond that.
Ebert raves about “The red shoe” (or something like that), the story about a kid who loses his/her shoe, and is terrified to tell his/her parents about it.
There are two essential names when it comes to Iranian cinema: Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Any list of 5 must include at least one of these (if not more).
I think the best word for the films of these two men is meditative. The films often have very little story, per se, and concentrate instead on incident, atmosphere, local color, cultural differences, and characterization. This means that they demand a greater attention span and patience than most American films do, but if they’re embraced on these terms, they can be richly rewarding and quite moving (as well as hysterically funny in an incredibly subtle way). Many of the films also are commentaries on the filmmaking process, so they have a raw, self-reflexive feel toward them–they’re not preoccupied with trying to make you forget you’re watching a movie. They’re not “slick”. But they’re generally good.
For MM, I’d recommend Gabbeh, A Moment of Innocence and Kandahar. For AK, I’d try A Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us and Close Up.
Children of Heaven and The White Balloon (written by AK) have been mentioned, so I’ll add Leila and two very recent films: Crimson Gold and Marooned in Iraq. Also, if you’re talking about (relatively) early Iranian cinema, try the excellent The Cow (both it and Leila directed by Dariush Mehrjui).
So, narrowing it down to 5, I’d recommend (watching in reverse order):