Baradaran-e Leila

"Leila's Brother" tells the story of poverty, pride and also persian social and cultural traditions. Eventhough our bright and clever protagonist - Leila experiences sexist behaviour from her parents and is constantly pushed aside, she is secretely the head of the family who keeps her relatives out of complete penury. Meanwhile her brothers are struggling with their careers and they still get more respect from their father than Leila. I found especially interesting this insight into the persian customs, where women are still treated differentely than men (e.g. When Leila couldn't attend a wedding reception because she is a woman). The story of Leila is closely intertwined with the story of her father, who is more interested in his fame and social status in the persian social ladder than the future of his own children. My opinion is that this picture represents the reality and everyday struggle of iranian men and especially women that are trying to break free from the unfair old traditions of their parents and in doing that this film makes itself valuable and also educational for non-persian audience. I must also point out the absolute stellar performance of Taraneh Alidoosti, who became the perfect choice for the resolute yet sensitive and compassionate Leila.

In Saeed Roustaee's engaging Iranian film "Leila's Brothers" (2022), viewers are pulled into a gripping story that tackles the challenges of family conflict and financial struggles. Set in modern-day Tehran, the film follows Leila, played by the talented Taraneh Alidoosti, as she works hard to carve out a stable career for herself while dealing with her four quarrelsome but loving brothers.

Roustaee's storytelling is top-notch, diving deep into each character's complexities, which keeps the audience hooked. The tension escalates when their self-absorbed father fixates on becoming the head of the extended family, a position that comes with a hefty cash prize that could jeopardize his children's business dreams.

The film's wide-ranging narrative is complemented by its skillfully woven emotional highs and lows, leading to some truly touching and sometimes heartbreaking scenes. "Leila's Brothers" stands out as a powerful anti-patriarchal tale, earning the FIPRESCI Critics' Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. However, despite its critical acclaim, the film is still banned from being shown in Iran, highlighting its provocative and challenging subject matter.

After the brilliant La Loi de Téhéran, Saeed Roustaee (a name to remember) confirms that he is one of the most talented filmmakers of the moment as could be a Park Chan-wook or a Bong Joon-ho. A fully mastered work from A to ZA , and above all a real actor's director with special mention for the breathtaking crowd scenes that we had already seen in The Law of Tehran and that we see again here (the strike at the factory, the wedding...).

Saeed Roustae gives us a real family fresco, tragic and brulsesque as Roustaee rightly says with an ode to the courage and wisdom of women, filmed with real finesse.

Even if most of the actors are extraordinary, Taraneh Alidoosti who is simply magnificent dominates the film (it is not for nothing that the title is Leila and her brothers).

And in addition we see Undertaker, Broke Lesnar and Randy Orton (and we are entitled to a debate on them, Triple H and Big Show being cited).

In short, undoubtedly one of the best films of 2022, and to say that it did not win the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Where to begin... I am literally lost on how to begin describing the many groundbreaking attributes of the movie. What made me tear up over every critical scene was that nothing extraordinary happened. The movie somehow managed to include both the pace of a Hollywood movie and the realistic non-heroic (even anti-heroic) traits of European cinema.

The way the flawed heroin revolved into being an anti-heroin, a victim, a passive, an evil, and the way she crawled back into being "only human" but a blatantly frank and active rebel haunts every inch of my being.

The wholistic symbolism portraying the society it stemmed from could not execute the concepts in a better way and dialogues could not be more purposefully composed to include typical cultural moments of miscommunication, introspective vulnerability, misunderstanding, raging through.

The only thing I would change about the movie is the acting. Each character is acting their role from a previous movie which indicates that the focus was more on the plot that the directing. At points one would sense that the characters have not acquired sympathy with the role they are playing (well except for Mr. Poursamimi, he could not have done better)

Amazing movie that shows the generation gap in Iran and how they perceive values differently. It also shows what's going on in Iran and how people are pressured by the government and regime, the fact that if you are poor you are poor and there are barely supports for you.

What I like the most about this movie, is breaking the cliches about respecting older people and parents that the govenimedia massively invested on it during the last 43 years after the revolution just because they are just older, but this movie shows it otherwise.

I really liked this movie and now have to make this review longer so I can post it.