Crimson Gold (2003)

Director: Jafar Panahi

 This film is Iran's Taxi Driver. Or maybe it is Iran's The Wire. Who knows, I just wanted to start this off with a hyperbolic generalized statement to get your attention, and now I have it. The point is that Taxi Driver is one of my favorite films of all time, and The Wire is one of my favorite television shows of all time and so I don't compare to them lightly. But I won't compare them, because this is because this film is a masterpiece in its own right. It is a movie that reveals the motives of those "second-class" citizens who are quietly fuming at the world. The lead character in this film is so tired of being treated like he is not as important as other humans who have more money. But in the film he is not asking to be rich, he is just asking for respect, and his anger represents so many around the world.

His realization over the course of the movie of how tragically static his situation really is shows how society as a whole, and not just in Iran, can be unfair to those who may not have the money necessary to have their voice heard. There is much dread in the film, because we know from the opening flash-forward in which he is involved in a robbery gone wrong that this will be a tragic story. But that dread adds poetry and meaning to the rest of the film. The lead performance is one that is very subdued, all of his feelings are deep inside and he never ever shows them. His anger is slowly boiling to the top, but we only know this because we know his sad final actions. Crimson Gold is quiet and angry at the same time. Written by the great Abbas Kiarostami, the screenplay has the subtle characterizations that he is known for, always keeping the audience just enough at bay. Director Jafar Panahi adds his trademark social critique and sense of social justice. Both of them team up to make a film that has a flawless sense of character, justice, class, and emotion.

Grade: A

A Separation (2011)

Director: Asghar Farhadi


It is surprising how many films have their characters painted as exclusively good or exclusively bad. That is why it is so refreshing to see a film like A Separation, one in which all of the characters are complex and can be seen as good and bad simultaneously. The film is an incredibly rich character drama that starts off with a divorce, but one that only unravels further after that and ends up being one of the most morally complex films I have seen in years.


Every character in this film has a moral dilemma that is instigated because of their situation, which includes where they live or how much money they have. Every adult character can potentially grab your sympathies, because even though some of these characters lie, the reasons they do so are spelled out very clearly. The husband and wife at the center of the eponymous separation both struggle with the conflict between compromising principles for practical benefits and standing behind your principles at all costs. It would have been very easy to make one of these characters the bad guy, but Farhadi does an incredible job at making sure everyone has an understandable point. Because the film is so moralistic, it is very likely you will end up sympathizing with one character more because of your own morals, but in that way the movie makes the audience examine their own morals.


As the film goes on though, there are a couple characters that start to come to the forefront as pure characters, and those are the children. Children are innocent and pure, and in these adult conflicts they are always the one who end up being the collateral damage. I have yet to see a film that gets across how it is always the children that lose in divorces. A Separation reveals the many battles human beings have with and within themselves and the real world consequences of those battles.


Grade: A

Filmcap: The week of Dec 11-18

Meek's Cutoff, Poetry, and Circumstance are a few of the films reviewed this week. I took a look at a couple 2011 releases that were some of the best I've seen of the year. Also included are a couple films on social issues, one is physician-assisted suicide, and the other is gay rights in Iran. Only one was successful. Many many more 2011 movies coming up.

Filmcap: The week of Nov 13-20

Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry and Scorsese's New York, New York both feature in this post that also includes a Thai movie with a very long name by a director who also has a very long name. In this post you will read about Scorsese's epic experiment, the similarities between the movies of Marvel Studios, and how a movie that makes very little sense can still be completely magical. 

Filmcap: The week of July 10-17

This week I watch two "kids" movies. One of them is rated PG-13, and the other is rated PG. I am willing to bet that more 10 year old kids saw the PG-13-rated movie than the PG-rated one. I talk about how the Harry Potter movies will be remembered forever, but not for their quality, and I also revisit a sweet film I've already reviewed on the blog before. 

Filmcap: The week of April 17-24

So I am officially about a week behind on these because of finals. Though I think I'll be able to catch up soon once finals die down. This week I finally finish Band of Brothers, some Italian World War II stories, one very artistic Iranian film, one very Hollywood-ish Iranian film, and two movies about bank robberies.

Filmcap: The week of April 10-17

This week I review a recent HBO miniseries, a quirky but great movie, two thrillers from different eras, one character study, and another Iranian film in my continuing research for a paper on Iranian cinema I'm going to write soon for my Art & Society class.

Filmcap: The week of April 3-10

This week saw a whole lot of stuff, much more than usual. We've got the end of a television show, two Italian films from the 50's, an impressionistic Terrence Malick-like film, a meta Iranian film, two films from Joe Wright, and a tale of a recent election. It's a lot, but I'm only preparing for what I assume will be less film watching in the summer. Have at it. 

Filmcap: the week of Mar 20-27

In this post I've got a couple superb realist post-crisis foreign films, one from post-war Italy, and another is post-revolution Iran. A couple recent films, one brand new and horrible, the other from last year and amazing. Then there's a little-talked about film from a great director, and a much-talked about genre film I have finally watched. Also, links to two very good short films.