Showing posts with label Shahram Mokri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shahram Mokri. Show all posts

Thursday 22 October 2015

Fish & Cat (Shahram Mokri, 2013)


MAHI VA GORBEH [Fish & Cat]
Director: Shahram Mokri
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

The first thing we notice about Mahi va Gorbeh is the technical challenge Shahram Mokri has taken on board. The film is shot uninterruptedly from start to finish in one long take. But film’s technical excellence is only a doorway to a dark and ambiguous world. By passing through this doorway we face a labyrinth with multitude of questions awaiting us at every corner. Within a single shot of the film we encounter numerous characters, all crammed in a limited space, their life stories cutting across each other to make a complex pattern.

Our first point of contact with the film is a crime story. Right at the beginning of the film we are informed that it is based on a true event of horrible crimes committed by owners of a restaurant in northern Iran. But despite such information, there is no visual sign of any crime within the film. It is totally free of physical violence. Mokri seems not in the least interested in crime story. His approach to film’s subject is purely philosophical. Any referral to a committed crime is indirect and nothing more than a hint like the vague cry of anguish and agony we hear from far away, or the machete Babak takes with him before going into the woods and the blood stained foul smelling bag he carries along. Any intention of crime by Babak is only implied by his way of interaction with his potential victims, either a threatening manner (like his encounter with the driver at the beginning of the film), or a cunning approach (the way he lured Parvaneh into the depth of the woods). The nearest we get to witnessing any evidence of crime is the scene of the cat holding a cut off finger in his mouth. But again instead of visually presenting such an image it is described by Mina and we only have her horrified reaction as she stares straight at us. The subjective viewpoint of camera is enough to convey her horror.

Monday 27 October 2014

Notes On New Iranian Genre Films

شهرام مكري
واكنش جهاني به رويكرد تازۀ سينماي ايران به ژانر:
خانه‌تكاني در سَبك
احسان خوش‌بخت

اخيراً يك كارشناسِ خودمنصوب كردۀ سينماي ايران در يك فستيوال اروپايي ادعا كرد كه فستيوال‌هاي بين‌المللي با انتخاب نوع خاصي از سينما از ايران، انواع ديگر سينما و فيلم‌هاي به اصلاح نوآورانه در فرم را ناديده مي‌گيرند. در همان جايي كه كارشناس بيانيه‌اش را صادر كرد (كه شباهت زيادي با تصورات رسمي و مظنونانه از فيلم‌هاي ايراني و جشنواره‌هاي جهاني دارد) ماهي و گربه براي تماشاگراني نمايش داده شده بود كه بخش قابل توجهي ازشان تا بيش‌ از يك ساعت بعد از اتمام نمايش فيلمْ شهرام مكري را رها نكردند و با طرح انواع سؤال‌ها - از فرم اثر تا محتوي آن نشان دادند كه كنجكاوي‌ و بعضاً علاقه‌شان به اين بخش از سينماي ايران از ارزشي كه براي سينماي (نئو)رئاليستي ايران و كيارستمي (و دنباله‌روهايش) قائلند كم‌تر نيست.