It showed that this was the right selection to view on a New Year's Eve; a film which is a countdown to the New Year. OK, it's the Persian New Year, but nevertheless.
I liked Taxi Tehran so much that I wanted to see more by this director. Taxi Tehran showed an overflow of irony and creativity. These same qualities we find again in his first feature film, but also an immense distress.
The film focuses around little Razieh, who wants to buy a chubby goldfish for the Noorooz celebrations. Now, I didn't know this before, but in Persian culture these fishes are a symbol for life. The skinny fishes at home are not enough for her. Thus Razieh is targeting for the plenitude of life. Her brother is going to help her and he talks their mother into letting her buy a fish, Happily she runs a way with a 500 toman bill. Although this doesn't sound much, it still was a substantial amount of money, as director Jafar Panahi declared in an interview.
Roaming on the street, Razieh becomes interested in the performance of snake charmers. She was told that this was unsuitable for her, but she also wants to know why it is not suitable for her. She manages to get rid of the money and get it back from the snake charmers. On the way to the fish shop she loses the money again. A friendly elderly lady helps her to find the money again, but it is now lost in a cellar duct. Her brother has been looking for her and together they try to acquire the bill again. At this point the tiny plot is overshadowed by a rich collection of supporting actors: a tailor who owns the shop next to the duct, the owner of the closed shop, a soldier who hasn't the money to buy a bus ticket to go home -- and a Hazara boy from Afghanistan, selling balloons. We saw this boy in the beginning when Razieh had disappeared from her mother. Then he had many balloons, now only a few are left.
Together they manage to get the bill out of the duct; the children run happily away, the seller remains with the white balloon, alone.
This film has been called heart-warming and life-confirming. Is it really like that? In Umberto D., one of the most touching dramas of Italian neo-realism, a living being whose life is even more miserable than the life of the eponymous main-character, helps him to return to life. That was solidarity among the outcasts. What do we have here? Selfishness! The two kids may be lower-middle class, and they use the Afghani seller for their purpose. Razieh's brother even thought that taking away things from him was OK, while he still has scruples to steal from a blind chewing-gum seller.
I have been told that the supporting characters were carefully cast from different parts of society: the tailor a Turk, the old lady a Polish refugee from the Gulag, the soldier and the fish seller from other parts. The snake charmers certainly also from abroad. What is the bottom line then? Maybe that a society needs all segments, if it is supposed to work as a society? It's a guess. However, it still seems to me that this film has an unhappy ending.
Busy viewers might think that the plot is moving too slowly. This is not Fast and Furious, but a chance to meet ordinary citizens from Iran. Panahi used only amateur actors and he has a unique talent to evoke the best of their performing abilities. They act naturally and this is quite amazing. Aida Mohammadkhani, the actor of Razieh is awesome: within seconds she changes from close to tears to happiness. It seems a pity that she didn't become a professional actress. The story is told from her perspective. We never see a general view from a grown-up perspective, but always close-ups that might confirm to the height of the girl. Especially in the beginning I sensed a certain impatience - until the film, so to speak, found its direction.
Unfortunately there are also cultural references that I cannot decode. E.g. Razieh once says that her father has two professions, but they don't elaborate on that any further. And there may be other allusions which I simply didn't catch. Likewise the foreign viewer has no chance to hear the different accents used by the characters, but none of these diminished the pleasure it was to see this film.
9,5/10
I liked Taxi Tehran so much that I wanted to see more by this director. Taxi Tehran showed an overflow of irony and creativity. These same qualities we find again in his first feature film, but also an immense distress.
The film focuses around little Razieh, who wants to buy a chubby goldfish for the Noorooz celebrations. Now, I didn't know this before, but in Persian culture these fishes are a symbol for life. The skinny fishes at home are not enough for her. Thus Razieh is targeting for the plenitude of life. Her brother is going to help her and he talks their mother into letting her buy a fish, Happily she runs a way with a 500 toman bill. Although this doesn't sound much, it still was a substantial amount of money, as director Jafar Panahi declared in an interview.
Roaming on the street, Razieh becomes interested in the performance of snake charmers. She was told that this was unsuitable for her, but she also wants to know why it is not suitable for her. She manages to get rid of the money and get it back from the snake charmers. On the way to the fish shop she loses the money again. A friendly elderly lady helps her to find the money again, but it is now lost in a cellar duct. Her brother has been looking for her and together they try to acquire the bill again. At this point the tiny plot is overshadowed by a rich collection of supporting actors: a tailor who owns the shop next to the duct, the owner of the closed shop, a soldier who hasn't the money to buy a bus ticket to go home -- and a Hazara boy from Afghanistan, selling balloons. We saw this boy in the beginning when Razieh had disappeared from her mother. Then he had many balloons, now only a few are left.
Together they manage to get the bill out of the duct; the children run happily away, the seller remains with the white balloon, alone.
This film has been called heart-warming and life-confirming. Is it really like that? In Umberto D., one of the most touching dramas of Italian neo-realism, a living being whose life is even more miserable than the life of the eponymous main-character, helps him to return to life. That was solidarity among the outcasts. What do we have here? Selfishness! The two kids may be lower-middle class, and they use the Afghani seller for their purpose. Razieh's brother even thought that taking away things from him was OK, while he still has scruples to steal from a blind chewing-gum seller.
I have been told that the supporting characters were carefully cast from different parts of society: the tailor a Turk, the old lady a Polish refugee from the Gulag, the soldier and the fish seller from other parts. The snake charmers certainly also from abroad. What is the bottom line then? Maybe that a society needs all segments, if it is supposed to work as a society? It's a guess. However, it still seems to me that this film has an unhappy ending.
Busy viewers might think that the plot is moving too slowly. This is not Fast and Furious, but a chance to meet ordinary citizens from Iran. Panahi used only amateur actors and he has a unique talent to evoke the best of their performing abilities. They act naturally and this is quite amazing. Aida Mohammadkhani, the actor of Razieh is awesome: within seconds she changes from close to tears to happiness. It seems a pity that she didn't become a professional actress. The story is told from her perspective. We never see a general view from a grown-up perspective, but always close-ups that might confirm to the height of the girl. Especially in the beginning I sensed a certain impatience - until the film, so to speak, found its direction.
Unfortunately there are also cultural references that I cannot decode. E.g. Razieh once says that her father has two professions, but they don't elaborate on that any further. And there may be other allusions which I simply didn't catch. Likewise the foreign viewer has no chance to hear the different accents used by the characters, but none of these diminished the pleasure it was to see this film.
9,5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment