badbadkiddo

Everything looks gorgeous in this movie. Iconic. Legendary. Timeless. Dreamy. The acting is top notch. All top four actors have done a great job and are perfect for their roles. There's a unique vibe in the movie about summer, love, envy and hate.

Every frame is like a painting, color coded and vibrant. This the movie to watch on a giant 4K projector when you have people invited over.

Notice how Penelope (Jane Birkin) puts two kings in front of each other in that scene with the chessboard. There are so many beautiful details like that in the movie. The scene about having preferences even in small meaningless objects of the day. Notice the emphasis on the car as it enters the villa for the first time like a snake in a low angle shot with the poseidon triton sign on it announcing the importance of underwater.

I can go on forever, I'm in love with this movie.

I finally got around and watched the restored Criterion version of this famous Iranian movie, after reading about it almost in every movie magazine or reference to it in film articles during my entire life and it was extremely disappointing at best!

The jump-cuts, extreme close-ups and editing may looked avangard at the time, but upon recent viewing, they serve no purpose at all, as if you are watching a set of scenes awkwardly pieced together. The attempted humor and love story is as flat as a pancake on a Monday morning. Only the opening scene has some gravity to it and soon after the downfall begins.

The scene in which the teacher goes to the principal house to meet his daughter is the most ridiculous and idiotic on all levels with horrible acting, cheesiest dialogues (noise) and the most ambiguous directing I have ever seen. The side haracters like that fiancé of the girl and the drinking scene at the bar are just awful and cartoonish.

I have watched maybe 7000 movies in my life from almost all countries, and I really wanted to like this ''masterpiece'', but it turned out just worthless. Seriously, I feel embarrassed that this garbage has got all the recognition in Iranian Cinema in a time that movies like Straw Digs were on screens worldwide. But I'm sure some beardy artsy looking dude with glasses might come attacking my review screaming that I didn't ''Understand'' it. OK Boomer. You win.

First off, you gotta realize the entire culture, ideological oppression, trauma and hopes and dreams of average Iranians in that era in Iran which still continues in much darker ways today.

This movie was banned for 3 years for portraying such taboo topics (now they might seem innocent in comparison) in a foreign location like Istanbul. There was no movie like this ever made in Iran when it came out. It stood out, made a buzz and triggered many.

Secondly, almost no Iranian movies are available in any decent quality in the country, even if you wanna purchase it officially. So you have to factor that.

The dialogues in the movie that almost always rhymes comically in persian are literally untranslatable to the western audience no matter how you put it. They have become catch phrases to many. So, when it comes to translation, much like poetry, the humor here has no chance of survival.

Having watched it on big screen upon its release in a time that almost every bit of ''fun'' was publicly frowned upon in Iran, I still feel the aura and the nostalgia of the time.

The movie masterfully depicts the agony of a man at the end of his rope, having to deal with the senseless sharks profiting from such ordeals in an alien location. The acting is great all around, the music gives me shivers and the storyline is solid.

I had to make an account just to write this review cause this movie lacks the recognition it deserves, at least here on IMDB.