Maverick filmmakers reveal Iranians' plight, courage
If Spain's overdone hanky soaker, ''The Sea Inside," isn't recent enough proof that the foreign film Oscar rarely goes to the best foreign-language film, consider the tale of two entrants in this year's Boston Festival of Films From Iran.
First, there's Reza Mir Karimi's ''So Close, So Far," the film that Iran just submitted for Academy Awards consideration. It presents majestic desert photography and rich representations of Persian culture by an accomplished filmmaker (see ''Under the Moonlight"), but it's also a straightforward melodrama that translates easily and flirts with heresy only so it can arrive at repentance. As usual, the grand life lesson comes down to priorities, this time learned by a self-absorbed neurosurgeon confronted with a grim diagnosis that makes him reevaluate relationships, faith, and his own godlike status. Think Anton Chekhov's ''The Doctor," with a forecast for sandstorms.
Then there's ''Iron Island," a film so surprising and powerful that you'd have to be buried in hot sand to resist it.
''Iron Island" opens this 12th annual festival at the Museum of Fine Arts, which begins Friday and runs through Dec. 4. It's written and directed by Mohammad Rasoulof (''The Twilight"), whose willingness to be pointed and black-humored about the plight of Iran's disenfranchised can't be making it any easier to get domestic screenings. The good news for the rest of the world is that the film is slated for distribution next year by Kino International.
Rasoulof's visual and narrative delight takes place aboard a retired oil tanker anchored in the Persian Gulf, where the rusty whale has become a floating tenement for homeless families taken in by a quasi-benevolent power broker named Captain Nemat (Ali Nassirian). The impoverished pay no rent, but Nemat capitalizes on their indebtedness and garnishes their wages for expenses. He also fights to keep his hold over these people even as eviction looms. You won't soon forget a scene in which a defiant young crewman (Hossein Farzi-Zadeh) is made to pay a heavy price for wooing a forbidden female shipmate.
''Iron Island" is as wrenching as it is beautiful. The only thing it lacks is the kind of backing that transcends politics, and not surprisingly it's far from alone in that regard. The best films in this MFA festival lineup are once again mavericks, with courageous voices and impressive aim.
''Poet of the Wastes" is one such feature, directed by veteran cinematographer Mohammad Ahmadi with a screenplay by the revered Mohsen Makhmalbaf (''Kandahar"). Like the city it depicts, Ahmadi's movie is made up of enormous contrasts, and the harshest neighborhoods are always where you find the most romantic souls. Tehran's many unemployed supply a sober backdrop for this story of an overqualified street cleaner (Farzin Mohades) who's intrigued by some of the writing he finds among the trash he's collecting. Mohades's Little Tramp-style performance is not to be missed; he's appealing even when he's stalking the author of those letters.
In Mani Haghighi's ''Abadan," another festival standout, Tehran is seen from a different perspective: The film is an unromanticized look at a fractured middle-class family so dysfunctional that the elderly patriarch will do anything to escape, including running away with no suitcase. ''Abadan" is frank and funny, with a distinct underground feel that separates it from the pack.
This year's festival features 13 films covering a typically broad mix that includes war, immigration, marginalization, and women's rights. Some films are gritty and urban, others muted and pastoral. It's an event ''for people who want to see excellence in filmmaking, but also people who want insights into life in Iran," explains programmer Bo Smith, the MFA's head of film, video, and concerts. An eagerly anticipated guest is popular writer-director Tahmineh Milani, whose latest sharp-nailed feminist melodrama, ''The Unwanted Woman," is slated for closing night. Milani will also receive the annual ILEX Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema.
Other veteran filmmakers represented in this lineup include Bahram Beizai (''Travellers"), whose old-fashioned suspense thriller ''Killing Mad Dogs" marks the end of a nearly decadelong hiatus. It's a hard-to-follow and somewhat overplayed return, but worth applauding as a comeback effort. There's also a new excuse to celebrate writer-director Rakhshan Bani Etemad (''Our Times"), sharing credit with Mohsen Abdolvahab for ''Gilaneh," a haunting portrait of the epic fallout of war. And Alireza Raisian's ''Deserted Station" boasts a story idea by Abbas Kiarostami (''Ten") that's credibly fleshed out in Kambozia Partovi's script about an infertile couple on a pilgrimage. Raisian supplies inspired creative flashes and artful direction that has the good sense to get out of the way.
If you like wide-open spaces, there's visual impact in newcomer Abdolrasoul Golbon's ''Paradise Is Somewhere Else," which sorts through cultural burdens and personal ethics via the story of a rebellious shepherd boy. There's also ''A Piece of Bread," Kamal Tabrizi's mystical take on mountain life, and Ali Reza Amini's ''The Riverside," where it's both amusing and devastating to look in on Kurdish refugees along the Iraq/Iran border.
More devastating still is Kianoush Ayari's ''Wake Up Arezoo!" -- a frantic, horrifying 90 minutes spent sifting through the rubble of a powerful earthquake. Its fictional scenes may be far less gruesome than the real thing, but the torture of watching still takes its toll; this one's not for the squeamish, or anyone with kids.
And finally, avant-garde minds might appreciate ''Portrait of a Lady Far Away," the dark and mysterious writing-directing debut of actor Ali Mosaffa. Even if you find the film too self-conscious, the upside is star Leila Hatami, whose distinctive and enigmatic face also graces ''Poet of the Wastes" and ''Deserted Station."
Oh, and if you're wondering about live music at this festival, it's still a possibility, says Smith -- he just hasn't had time yet to focus on bringing back any of last year's entertainment. ''This is in many ways the hardest festival to put together," he says with a sigh. For one thing, the best films rarely come through official channels.
Janice Page can be reached at jpage22@hotmail.com. 