My Worst Enemy review – Iranian exile recreates torture and interrogation in study of regime power

Mehran Tamadon’s film about autocracy in Iran could have revealed more about methods of control, despite a star turn from Zar Amir Ebrahimi Film-maker Mehran Tamadon is preoccupied with the question of conscience, especially in contexts of extreme power imbalance. An Iranian exiled in France, he has made documentaries about the most fervent supporters of the Islamic regime, starting with Bassidji in 2009. In 2012, Tamadon was detained by Iranian authorities for hours of questioning, and though he was subsequently released, he became persona non grata in his home country. Now the director has turned to the tools of film-making to try to lay out a path for a return. He gathered a group of fellow exiles, with whom he re-created the lengthy interrogation sessions they once endured. His hope was that that final film would stir introspection, and even empathy, in the hearts of their former tormenters. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/IsPc35J via IFTTT

The Cow Who Sang a Song into the Future review – gripping tale sprinkled with animal magic

Chilean director Francisca Alegría weaves together singing cows and family trauma in this thoughtful magical realist fable with an environmental message

First-time Chilean director Francisca Alegría turns up the arthouse dial past eleven right from the name of her debut feature. The Cow Who Sang a Song into the Future is a conspicuously poetic title that gives every impression that we’re in for a hardcore cine-patience tester. I have to admit that it made my heart sink. But while, yes, TCWSSF is a dreamy magical realist fable with an environmental message, Alegría weaves into her tale an emotionally satisfying, gripping family drama, with singing cows – and fish too.

It begins with the fish, dying by the shoal-load on the banks of a river, poisoned by pollution from a nearby factory. As the fish die, a woman gasps to the surface of the water. This is Magdalena (Mía Maestro), who drowned herself decades ago. Now she is back from the dead as if time stopped – still gorgeous, still dressed in the boilersuit she wore when she drove her motorbike deliberately into the river. Magdalena’s husband collapses when he spots her outside a mobile phone shop. Their adult daughter Cecilia (Leonor Varela) – just a girl when her mum died – drives from the city with her two kids to look after him at the family’s dairy farm.

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