Film Review: A separation

Any modern day sincere film-viewer cannot but be a fan of intricate neo-realist Iranian dramas. The way the pioneer film-makers like Kiorostami or modern masters like Majidi or Panahi or Fahadi captures intricate drama in the celluloid is not only worth watching but savouring to its last bit. A separation, is a complex drama as well, unlayering the story of through baring different characters  in a magnanimous yet minimalist way.

The film opens with a scene of appeal for separation between the parents of a 11 year old girl whose mother don’t see a future of her daughter and her family in the country, while her father clinges on to whatever he has: his octogenarian invalid father, his meagre existence in an apartment and a regular day job, and his daughter. Somehow the psychology of the middle-class of the entire nation, torn between the wish to flee away and the will to stay and fight, is alluded in a single opening sequence.

The story unfolds more, to involve other characters as he hires a working class guy  to look after his father, only to find his wife to come to his apartment to fill up for him. Thereon, things turn to more complexity, more tragedy, more  commotion and intricacy with incidents precipitating over each other. To the credit of the director, never for once did he try to work with the dichotomy of protagonist and antagonist. Refraining from daubing characters into particular negative or positive light is something not only strengthened this film, but also put the motion into a very fine tune. The inner turmoil of each character is not only palpable throughout the film, but also the strength and weakness of every character, their vulnerability and reciprocity is something almost oozes out of the screen with each turn of camera.

The performance of each actors and actresses is top notch, like you expect in most of these Iranian films which usually heavily really upon the virtuosity of the actors and actresses and they never let the director down. A separation was no exception. The use of child actors in crucial roles is something almost indigenous to Iranian masters and this film is no different in that respect either. So to conclude, I would say that this gem of a film is a must watch, especially for those who cannot live without the works of Iranian masters.

 

Film Review: Footnote

The intricacy of the father-son relation meets the bitterness of a self-obsessed unrecognized genius: this is what the highly critically acclaimed film “Footnote” comprises. Among myriad of comedic moment of the film, the darkness of ambivalence, the reticent love and affection and the vociferated wrath, all are co-mingled with a touch of distant indifference and that was turned the work from a intense drama set in the world of academics, to a relatable humane effort.

While one cannot fail to notice that the story is full of oxymoronic elements: such as the exposure of rivalry and acerbity amid the pristine-looking whitehead academicians, the envy of the father to his son’s success who to the contrary upholds him as his inspiration; the private disdain confronts the publicly showing affection of the son, never finding the recognition of his own father while the world approves of him; all in all the film is there to stay with its viewer, not to prove a point, not to ram it home with intense drama, but as a bitter-sweet taste that does not go away.

Apotheosis

Here I stand
At the end of the world
Waiting for the final bell to toll.

I do not see the man hiding beneath the façade
I do not growl for the loss of an era bygone
I do not excavate another passé idea
Of love and heartbreak, of self, of nature
And everything eternal.

I will take the hemlock on offer
But I will not go on a rant
I pledge not to make a sound anymore
And I will close my eyes,
Slowly as if not to create a ripple
Though the ether.

Nothingness is the only Constance

Everything else is but a surreal reverie
Waiting to be wished away.

Aphorism

I see the world, glorious and gray
Immured inside my fist
Imploring to my benevolence
Praying to be released.
And I
Looking down upon the magnanimity
With a cruel smirk hovering by my lip
Say, NO.

There is no resolution left to be taken.
No cause left to be defended.
No soul was left to have mercy upon them.

There emanates, but, a solipsistic chant
Sounding like a groan
Uncertain if effusing from pleasure or pain.

Apocryphal

There’s a space around me
A distance growing vast.
In the depth of my solitude
There lay the pleasure and pain
The follower and followed
The embodiment of future.

You and I will give birth to
Our solitary world
We will abandon
What is simple and true
And recourse to a life
Of illusory dreams and magical colors.

All that is left for us
Is silence and solitude
And a few hours in between.