Summary: An animated feature film based on Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical comics about her coming of age in revolutionary Iran. The film begins just before the 1979 revolution in Iran, and unfolds from the perspective of Marji, a precocious 10-year-old girl from an upper-class, Marxist intellectual family. The story follows Marji from childhood to early adolescence…
Tag: Iranian Movies
Gavaznha / The Deer – Summary, Analysis
Summary: Bleeding slowly from a bullet wound and carrying a suitcase full of stolen bank money, Ghodrat (Gharibian) searches for his high school best friend, Seyyed (Vossoughi), to give him shelter. When he finally locates Seyyed, instead of the imposing school legend renowned for his toughness and valour, Ghodrat finds a burned-out heroin addict who…
Bashu, The Little Stranger – Summary and Analysis
Summary: The film begins in the war-torn south of Iran, and the opening sequence unfolds like an action film. Bombs hit homes and other civilian buildings, date trees disappear amidst smoke, and a woman who has been set on fire because of the explosions spins in vain to extinguish the flames. Rather incredibly, a trucker…
The White Balloon – Summary – Analysis
Summary: The White Balloon unfolds during the countdown to the New Year. The plot revolves around seven-year-old Razieh, who has her heart set on a particular goldfish. Goldfish are an essential element of a table of various items Iranians set out in celebration of the New Year, and Razieh is not satisfied with the ‘skinny’…
10 (Ten) Film: Summary and Analysis
Summary: Ten sequences examine the emotional lives of women at significant junctures. Analysis: ‘I am unable to grasp the greatness of Abbas Kiarostami … Two digital cameras, a car and your actors, and off you go.’ When the great American film critic Roger Ebert dismissed 10 with these words (quoted in Andrew 2005: 8) he…