Iranian Cinema- A genre that is implicitly so beautiful, vast, and existential that one cannot stop watching it. It appeals to the audience. Despite the country experiencing political and social turmoil, one cannot shy away from the art of the poets, artists, and specifically, filmmakers. They have hurdled across the mountains of censorship barriers to define their plight and intimate joys and sorrows of everyday life.
Children of Heaven (1997)
The canonical film that defined Iran’s initial entry to the Academy Awards. A pair of siblings tries to keep their ill mother and impoverished father in the dark when little Ali unintentionally misplaces the only pair of shoes his younger sister Zahra owns. They concoct a plan to share Ali’s worn-out sneakers with Zahra until they can buy her a new pair. The movie was filmed in the most poverty-stricken areas of Tehran. The realism and innocence are captured in a demure concoction of familial love and a sweet melody.
A Separation (2011)
The sight of a guy scrubbing his Alzheimer-stricken father served as director Asghar Farhadi’s initial inspiration for the film. In an attempt to provide a better life for their daughter overseas, Simin, the wife of Nader, files for divorce when he refuses to leave Tehran. Nader employs Razieh, a married woman whose chador conceals her pregnancy, to take care of his elderly father while he is at work. After being upset with Razieh, Nader pushes her one day, causing her to miscarry. Razieh’s husband then sues Nader. Catharsis becomes one with the viewers; they feel what the characters feel. One cannot be disconnected from the film’s psyche. It feels deeply personal yet detached.
Nafas is a young journalist from Afghanistan who has fled to Canada. Her younger sister, who has remained in Afghanistan and made the decision to take her own life before the sun’s impending eclipse, sends her a frantic letter. During the Taliban civil war, Nafas left her homeland. She decides to travel to Kandahar to assist her sister and makes an effort to cross the border between Iran and Afghanistan. The tragedy remains, not with one woman but thousands of them. The distressing portrait that emerges is of a handsome people whose kindly instincts have been subverted by fear, corruption, and the desperate struggle to survive.
Manuscripts Don’t Burn (2013)
To locate a banned manuscript that describes their government’s abortive plot to kill 21 authors, two Iranian spies go to tremendous lengths. If censorship had a movie, it would be this one. In defiance of the Iranian government’s 20-year prohibition on filmmaking, Rasoulof made his audacious and scathing political message illegally. It condemns the horrifying lack of freedom of speech. A totalitarian regime’s worst nightmare. An Iranian subversion of George Orwell’s prophecy. This is a chilling reminder that art and artists are more dangerous than any weapon; they create and prophesy the doomsday of an absolutist and tyrannical state.
Certified Copy (2010)
English author James meets French shopkeeper Elle while touring Tuscany, Italy, advertising his new book. The two click and decide to spend a free day together. They go to a nearby town, have coffee, go to a museum, and act as though they were married in what turns out to be a well-liked wedding location. But as these two strangers get to know one another, it becomes evident that their new connection is more complicated than it initially appears. The movie has no definitive meaning or interpretation, but that is where the real meaning lies. The interpretation is in the coils of the unknown.
The Salesman (2016)
Emad and Rana, a young couple in Tehran, Iran, are forced to relocate after their apartment is damaged. After moving, their lives are drastically altered by an abrupt outburst of violence connected to the former tenant of their new residence, which leads to a simmering conflict between husband and wife. In this movie, he poses an important question. To what extent will we go to appease society? Sometimes it’s better to let go of things rather than cling to them.
The Mirror (1997)
When her mother doesn’t show up to pick her up from school, Mina must travel home alone. She looks at the road fearfully. At the sound of a horn, she leaps back and swiftly grabs onto an adult to assist her in crossing. The grownups’ heads are unreal, towering and severed from Mina’s perspective. They chat about topics that are completely foreign to her, such as money, infidelity, and aging, even while she is on a bus and can see them conversing. The film dives into the world of children (innocent and soulful) while adults are seen as soulless lumps of flesh. It is filmed at a child’s level to give a glimpse into their inner lives and to highlight the richness, frustration, and terror that are frequently less evident in an adult’s emotional realm.
Fireworks Wednesday (2006)
The film follows Mozhdeh and Morteza Samiei, a turbulent couple, as they get ready for a trip to Dubai the morning after Chaharshanbe Suri, a festival that takes place on the Wednesday before Nowruz. Although Mozhdeh first maintains that she is not necessary, Morteza employs Rouhi, a bride-to-be, as a new maid through an agency to assist the couple with cleaning their apartment. The film is much more than its general synopsis. Farhadi paints a painful but fair picture in which social graces are the limiting factor.
Taste of Cherry (1997)
An existential and suicidal query is most profound when it is dealt with through the lens of an ordinary man. Mr. Badii, a middle-aged Tehranian man, is determined to end his own life and is looking for someone to bury him. The ostensibly wealthy Badii meets many people while driving about the city, including a Muslim student named Mir Hossein Noori, and asks them to accept the job. At first, he is unsuccessful. Badii eventually finds a man who is willing to do the job because he needs the money, but his new accomplice quickly tries to dissuade him from taking his own life.
