another night, another film that brings me to the cusp of tears. no one makes films anywhere near as human as persian directors do, and ill die on that hill.
this is my introduction to Jafar Panahi, and even though the version of this film i watched was in a very low resolution and had absolutely asinine subtitling, i still found this very, very enjoyable, and the themes, characters, and dialogue seriously resonated with me.
that opening sequence, my god… watching a man throw his meaningless life away, seeing how he begins to process and comprehend the consequences of his actions that led him to such a hopeless and beleaguered state; but it appears as though it wasn’t completely unexpected and completely unwelcome, its like deep down he knew this was going to happen, like this was the only outcome he thinks he could deserve; so he takes control, for the first time in his miserable, hopeless existence, he takes control by choosing how it ends.
following the opening sequence, the rest of the film shows the events and circumstances that lead to the aforementioned scene. the main character Hussein, is an obvious pessimist and cynic, believing that no one is good intentioned and nothing good could befall him… man he was right. in the hours leading up to the heist, he almost acts as if he knew he was doomed to die, he acted so care free (drinking booze as a muslim, swimming fully clothed, etc), it was so apparent he had nothing to lose; but he isnt this way by any fault of his own, he was forced into this state by an unjust system and an unjust society that kicked him down and down and down over and over again, until there was nothing left to kick. i wont spoil too much but this was a super solid film, that opening sequence was such a great hook, it really gained my full attention from the get go and maintained it for the entire runtime. i cant wait to further explore not only Panahi’s filmography, but persian cinema as a whole.
another night, another film that brings me to the cusp of tears. no one makes films anywhere near as human as persian directors do, and ill die on that hill.
this is my introduction to Jafar Panahi, and even though the version of this film i watched was in a very low resolution and had absolutely asinine subtitling, i still found this very, very enjoyable, and the themes, characters, and dialogue seriously resonated with me.
that opening sequence, my god… watching a man throw his meaningless life away, seeing how he begins to process and comprehend the consequences of his actions that led him to such a hopeless and beleaguered state; but it appears as though it wasn’t completely unexpected and completely unwelcome, its like deep down he knew this was going to happen, like this was the only outcome he thinks he could deserve; so he takes control, for the first time in his miserable, hopeless existence, he takes control by choosing how it ends.
following the opening sequence, the rest of the film shows the events and circumstances that lead to the aforementioned scene. the main character Hussein, is an obvious pessimist and cynic, believing that no one is good intentioned and nothing good could befall him… man he was right. in the hours leading up to the heist, he almost acts as if he knew he was doomed to die, he acted so care free (drinking booze as a muslim, swimming fully clothed, etc), it was so apparent he had nothing to lose; but he isnt this way by any fault of his own, he was forced into this state by an unjust system and an unjust society that kicked him down and down and down over and over again, until there was nothing left to kick. i wont spoil too much but this was a super solid film, that opening sequence was such a great hook, it really gained my full attention from the get go and maintained it for the entire runtime. i cant wait to further explore not only Panahi’s filmography, but persian cinema as a whole.
