Soog

Another one of Iranian master use of amateur and child actors. The story line has been well reviewed by others so no need to repeat here. The film and story is well developed by few characters. As usual a much better ending than the standard feelgood Hollywood films. Again Iranian cinema surpasses.

I went to see this as part of the Dublin Film Festival. It sounded good on paper so I was expecting good things. While , it is beautifully shot and shows the Iranian countryside in all its glory I found this movie to be incredibly boring . Nothing much happens and a lot of the characters are not developed fully. Most of the action takes place in the car in which they are travelling or along the road in the Iranian countryside. To be quite honest , only for I was in the middle of a row I would have left this film early as it nearly put me to sleep. I gave it a 4 and most of that was for the cinematography of the Iranian countryside. Avoid .

I saw this film as part of the Iranian Film Festival in Sydney and discovered that this film was conceived as part of a workshop with the great director Abbas Kiarostami. This film shows the influence of Kiarostami but also has taken an original approach to film making.

Like many Iranian Films the film has a gentle pace, gives a prominent role to its setting and has at is core a riveting dramatic tale. The dialogue and characters are engrossing and unfold beautifully throughout the film.

The direction of the film is great. The use of sound in particular is superb and a real treat which is central to the film. I found myself enjoying the way the director has played with sound and created the sound world of the characters. I wont say anything more to ensure not giving away some of the suspense of the film.

The screenplay of the film is also superb. When a director uses countryside as the setting, often there is a tendency to romanticise the countryside, the rural setting, the people, etc etc (e.g. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia was a film seen recently which is a very romantic view of rural Turkey). This film avoids the romanticism and conveys a real sense of Iranian rural areas. It is stunning, but not without its realities of bad roads, bad drivers, isolation....

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and recommend it.