Mahiha ashegh mishavand

Two intertwined love and separation stories. After a long absence, a man returns to his house now occupied by a previous flame. The parallel story is that of the woman's daughter who is about to suffer the same loss of her sweetheart that her mother suffered. The story focus is on the man. What he will do? Will the old love be rekindled? Will the daughter's fate be different?

The man's intentions, actions and feelings are purposely obfuscated to keep us wondering. But the future path is easily guessed. The film is predictable. The depiction of charged emotions is often unconvincing, especially when coming from the main actress. The actress playing the daughter does a better job.

The star attraction is the food. The action mostly takes place in a restaurant, which the man's house has become. Many plates of delectable dishes often fill the frame of the screen. You leave the theater hungry. The message is clear: the most effective way for a woman to get to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Sometimes films come along that REALLY highlight what "DIFFERENT" REALLY MEANS! This IRANIAN movie is a CLASSIC Example!

And to do just that.... FIRST... Let us FOCUS on the Title's Content and Context:

When watching a film produced by another culture, the "Lost in Translation" factor is, to one degree or another, an undeniable part of the equation! "FISH" is no exception!

For openers, the title itself is askew. FARSI, the language spoken in Iran, does not employ articles ("The" or "a/an"). For this reason, when translating, the use of articles provides a serious challenge to Iranians. Here, the Iranian translator should have rendered: "Fish Fall in Love" as the title, sans "The"!

But...Let's put shortcomings on the back-burner for a while and focus on FISH's strengths, which are ample. The term "unpretentious" is overused as of late. If ever there was a film deserving of this distinction, "FISH" certainly is it!

REZA has recently gotten out of prison, where he had been locked up for over 20 years. Apparently, he was whisked away just days before he was to be married to Atieh.

From the get go, it's obvious Reza is still pining for Atieh, big time! Meanwhile, Atieh has converted what was to be their home, into a very popular restaurant. "FISH" chronicles the incremental thawing and eventual initial re-kindling of that relationship, and it does so in a way that is simultaneously poignant, warm-hearted, realistic and yet, oddly mundane.

This film gives us a glimpse of some of the cultural nuances of Iran. The importance of food as a tool for bringing a family together at the table, the myriad of difficulties encountered by a woman who is widowed or abandoned by her husband and how wagging tongued Neighborhood gossips can take all the joy out of life!

Without providing any spoiler details, I found the ending to be rather mystifying and thought-provoking. An attribute shared, surprisingly enough, by several other Iranian films I've seen.

"FISH" does suffer from some production value issues, which are common to low-budget productions. The dialogue recorded outdoors and in the kitchen leaves a lot to be desiired. Well, you'll probably be reading the sub-titles anyway, right? Unfortunately.... They, too, are really terribly sub-standard... I would say ....LOUSY!

7*******

ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Mahiha ... bears many similarities with another notable Iranian film, Cafe Transit. In both movies a single mother uses her culinary skills to run a restaurant and support her daughter. Food also plays a pivotal role in both films and perhaps even more so here where director Rafii and his famed cinematographer Kalari make sure that the camera lingers on every dish prepared. The main difference is that here the central character is a man, Aziz (Reza Kianian), an ex-political prisoner, returning home after 22 years and re-igniting an old love affair with Atieh (Roya Nonahali) who is running a restaurant , in a property still owned by Aziz, to support her daughter. Aziz's return raises questions in the restaurant and within the small coastal community: has he returned to reclaim his old property or his old love? Mahiha is a less complex film than Cafe Transit and has a slenderer storyline. It is, however, finely acted by the two leads and is consistently engaging and watchable. Kalari's camera work, is another major plus.

Iran certainly has been a contender for some very interesting films (and I mean that in the good sense...of course). 'The Fish Fall In Love',from 2005 manages to cement that fine reputation. There has long been a relationship with cinema & food that entices audiences. The plot here:when Aziz returns from a twenty plus year prison sentence in a Tehran prison,he just wants to return to his home,located by the Caspian Sea,only to find that his ex fiancée has turned it into a popular restaurant. Atieh (his ex lover)sees Aziz & panics that he wants his house back,and attempts to sway him from taking back his house by letting him stay in one of the unused rooms (and supplying him with a non stop array of mouth watering meals). Does Aziz take back his house? I certainly won't spoil it for you. Besides all of that lovely food on display,the photography is lush with splashes of colour in the right places (oranges are a metaphor for life here). The film wins over with a well written & directed screenplay (by first time writer/director,Ali Rafiee),with a mostly unknown cast (although, the films's central female lead,Roya Nonahali has several films under her belt,already). The film's photography is a treat for the eye. This film is sparsely distributed by an independent studio that only lends their films out to art galleries & film societies,so a bit of searching out will be a pre requisite (plus,as far as I know,there's no DVD release out there). Spoken in Farsi with English subtitles. Not rated,this film serves up a few rude words,but is otherwise fine for older children,with a bit of patients (films from Iran can be a bit slowly paced).

...Fish Fall in Love is Iranian theater director Ali Raffi'i's first feature about two lovers being reunited after a twenty-year separation, and a new generation of about-to-be lovers, about to be separated.

Ex-political prisoner and Iranian émigré Aziz returns to his home at a Caspian Sea coastal village, where he finds that his former beloved Atieh, her daughter and two sisters have appropriated his family home and turned it into a restaurant. The film is shot like an old postcard from your grandparents' seaside holiday, complete with long images of regional specialties. In this film, no dish leaves the kitchen without making a cameo. Can you imagine jeweled rice doing the red-carpet walk at Cannes?...

http://www.culiblog.org/2006/02/when-fish-fall-in-love/ where there are more food-related film reviews