Day 4: Iranian Romance Films

Senior Experience Foreign Film Project

Day 4: Iranian Romantic Film

Probably the closest to the themes of "romance" I have lined up this week, although of course there are elements of today's pictures that, while focusing on Iranian cinema, toes the line of the definition (Abbas Kiarostami is Iranian, which is what made "Certified Copy" qualify for me, but the movie takes place in Italy and only uses Italian, English, and French). That being said, today's movies are "Certified Copy (2010, directed by Abbas Kiarostami)" and "Downpour (1972, directed by Bahram Beyzai)".

Certified Copy (2010, dir. Abbas Kiarostami)

A great film... up until the last 20 minutes. Every performance is excellent and convincing, the camera following the couple, along with the streamline editing, makes for a great experience for the eyes. And while a lot of the dialogue feels very much like a constant philosophical debate, it somehow works. The only problem is there's a scene about an hour and 20 minutes into the movie where this consistent and smooth tone is thrown out the window, the characters don't behave like themselves, it's incredibly jarring and noticeable and soured my mood on the rest of the movie, which made more sense with the previous scenes. I still did like the movie, it had a lot of points that I agreed with and also made me reconsider what I thought about romance and the differences between the original and an exact copy of an object. With a stronger closing half hour, it could be a favorite, but unfortunately it left me disappointed. 3/5

Downpour (1972, dir. Bahram Beyzai)

I did not like this one at all for the most part. Of course I can recognize its cultural significance of portraying a pre-civil war Iran (which is probably why it was chosen for restoration for Scorsese's Global Cinema Project) but it was just not enjoyable. There is only one surviving positive for the film, where English subtitles are attached to the film by Beyzai himself, but the lack of full or consistent subtitles throughout made this hard to understand, especially paired with the oftentimes poor and confusing editing choices. All the characters are either unrealistic or bland, and so much of the movies time is spent bullying and beating up the main character that the film often felt mean spirited, as if you were supposed to laugh at a teacher getting picked on and beaten up by other grown adults and children. Relationships in this movie lack chemistry or subtlety, and things seem to happen without any momentum or direction. Can't think of any standout elements or anything I took away from the film other than it was dull and upsetting. 1/5