Iranian Cinema During Past Year
April 24, 1999 - 0:0
TEHRAN Iranian cinema, during the past year, experienced the production of action films more than those of the war cinema. Most of the Iranian filmmakers focused their efforts on making commercial films and those appealing to the common movie-goers. Among the films made last year, only Mercedes, by Masood Kimiaei, possessed a few aspects of visual creativity. The rest possessed hackneyed themes.
As for the films on the Iraqi imposed war, only The Glass Agency, by Ebrahim Hatamikia, deserves to be reviewed. The film, having a war theme, tried to show some war veterans struggling to prevent the collapse of their ideals. It was a very significant work which presented a clear view of the post-war social changes in the country. In the area of the melodramatic films, the film Didar (visit), by Mohammad Reza Honarmand, depicted relations between a Christian girl and a Muslim boy.
Although Honarmand in this film talks about war, the film mainly portrays a love story. Therefore, it can be said that Didar manifested a clear and dauntless view of love. The film Lady of Ordibehesht dealt with the problems facing a widow who intended to remarry, but her 18-year-old son created problems for her. Its director, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, tried to present a new image of the life of an intellectual Iranian woman and her deep feelings.
The film Motherly Love, by Kamal Tabrizi, had a very bitter theme. It manifested the real identity of society and human beings who pretend to support the deprived in words, but take no real action in practice. In the field of the comic films, Man of Sun hit the big screens following a three-year ban. But in general, it was not a remarkable work as a comic film.
Help Me was also a dark comic film, which was combined with dreams and imaginations. It disclosed the wide gap between the rich and the poor in society. The film The Wrong Man, directed by Mohammad Reza Honarmand and produced by the Art Bureau of the Islamic Propagation Organization, was another story which employed comedy to reveal the incompetence of certain economic managers.
It also referred to the high capabilities of some people who, due to poverty and lack of facilities, are not able to realize their potential. The Wrong Man was a real box-office success. Only in Tehran, it earned some four billion rials. Banoo, by Dariyoush Mehrjouei, hit the big screens after seven years of prohibition. The film was very similar to one of Mehrjouei's previous works, Hamoon. The difference between the two was only that the main character in Hamoon was a man and in Banoo a woman.
In general, Banoo was a deep, attractive and memorable film. The film Haji Washington, by late Ali Hatami, banned for more than 15 years, was a long monologue which presented contradiction between traditions and civilization. Kianoush Ayyari, in his film To Be or Not to Be, analyzed different dimensions of the human spirit by looking at human life through a psychological viewpoint.
Samira Makhmalbaf, in her first long film Seeb (apple), raised a hue and cry both inside and outside the country. The theme of Seeb stemmed from a bitter reality which exists in society. And finally, the film Cloud and Sunlight, by Mahmoud Kalari, the renowned cinematographer, won the biggest prize ever given to an Iranian film by an international festival, namely a cash award of $700,000. As a matter of fact, Kalari's films follow the style of the films by Abbas Kiarostami.
As for the films on the Iraqi imposed war, only The Glass Agency, by Ebrahim Hatamikia, deserves to be reviewed. The film, having a war theme, tried to show some war veterans struggling to prevent the collapse of their ideals. It was a very significant work which presented a clear view of the post-war social changes in the country. In the area of the melodramatic films, the film Didar (visit), by Mohammad Reza Honarmand, depicted relations between a Christian girl and a Muslim boy.
Although Honarmand in this film talks about war, the film mainly portrays a love story. Therefore, it can be said that Didar manifested a clear and dauntless view of love. The film Lady of Ordibehesht dealt with the problems facing a widow who intended to remarry, but her 18-year-old son created problems for her. Its director, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, tried to present a new image of the life of an intellectual Iranian woman and her deep feelings.
The film Motherly Love, by Kamal Tabrizi, had a very bitter theme. It manifested the real identity of society and human beings who pretend to support the deprived in words, but take no real action in practice. In the field of the comic films, Man of Sun hit the big screens following a three-year ban. But in general, it was not a remarkable work as a comic film.
Help Me was also a dark comic film, which was combined with dreams and imaginations. It disclosed the wide gap between the rich and the poor in society. The film The Wrong Man, directed by Mohammad Reza Honarmand and produced by the Art Bureau of the Islamic Propagation Organization, was another story which employed comedy to reveal the incompetence of certain economic managers.
It also referred to the high capabilities of some people who, due to poverty and lack of facilities, are not able to realize their potential. The Wrong Man was a real box-office success. Only in Tehran, it earned some four billion rials. Banoo, by Dariyoush Mehrjouei, hit the big screens after seven years of prohibition. The film was very similar to one of Mehrjouei's previous works, Hamoon. The difference between the two was only that the main character in Hamoon was a man and in Banoo a woman.
In general, Banoo was a deep, attractive and memorable film. The film Haji Washington, by late Ali Hatami, banned for more than 15 years, was a long monologue which presented contradiction between traditions and civilization. Kianoush Ayyari, in his film To Be or Not to Be, analyzed different dimensions of the human spirit by looking at human life through a psychological viewpoint.
Samira Makhmalbaf, in her first long film Seeb (apple), raised a hue and cry both inside and outside the country. The theme of Seeb stemmed from a bitter reality which exists in society. And finally, the film Cloud and Sunlight, by Mahmoud Kalari, the renowned cinematographer, won the biggest prize ever given to an Iranian film by an international festival, namely a cash award of $700,000. As a matter of fact, Kalari's films follow the style of the films by Abbas Kiarostami.