A Separation (Farhadi, 2011)
By the third time out or so, you realize that a filmmaker you’ve only been vaguely or even just accidentally keeping up with clearly deserves more particular notice – and so you sit up and pay attention, remember the name, start looking for it on festival schedules, indeed, choose that name over others, becoming attuned to obviously ongoing stylistic and thematic concerns that portend a significant body of work in the making. Asghar Farhadi is a director who deserves that... Read More
About Elly (2009 Chicago International Film Festival)
About Elly (Asghar Farhadi, Iran) How to discuss a film about which the less you know going in the better… which may or may not get enough U.S. distribution to matter… though if it does, you really should try to see… and getting you to do so may depend on someone like me convincing you to… without telling you too much… perhaps it’s nearly as difficult as getting certain kinds of conversations past the cinema censors in the Islamic Republic… so let’s... Read More
Memories, Dreams & Revolutions
I. HOW COULD WE KNOW WHEN I WAS YOUNG ALL THE CHANGES THAT WERE TO COME? The other night we sat in the playground, watching the kids play. It was a gorgeous late Spring evening, warm enough for the kids to dance over the water sprinkler. Conversation drifted to events in Iran. Marek and I usually have to be careful talking about politics. If he’d been eligible to vote, he’d have voted for George W. Bush, both times. He’s still my friend. I blame... Read More
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