The Traveller

A while back someone, I think it was a filmspotter, shared a link to a website that posted pictures from Iran in the 1970’s.   The pictures portrayed modern dressed men and women interacting together. So this was what pre-Iranian Revolution 1979 looked like. I also noticed the same type of clothes and behavior in the film The Traveler. I wouldn’t have known it was an Iranian film, by sight only. Recently, the director Abbas Kiarostami, worked to have two filmmakers released from prison and it made me wonder how his movies differ from one regime to the next.

My first reaction to the main character, Quassem, was, “you little punk." I laughed a little when I saw that the film was made for the Center forIntellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, which Abbas Kiarostami worked for. So, it was a message film. I still think he’s a punk, but I empathize a little more with him after I thought about his life and circumstances. His mother was illiterate and couldn’t help him with homework or real motivation, except to ineffectually yell at him. His father was referred to as someone who beat him regularly. I could see why he looked for escape, namely soccer. With that background, his story became pretty sad.

I didn’t love the movie (nor did I love Certified Copy), but I really loved some of the filming. The corridors Quassem ran down were really beautifully shot and the empty stadium with the papers scattering in the wind was another great visual.

Since Jean-Luc Godard said, “Film begins with D.W. Griffith and ends with Abbas Kiarostami.” I believe I need to see more of his work. What next? Close-Up? Taste of Cherry? 

I Wish, I Wish... Hanna and Certified Copy

Why is it so difficult for me to just enjoy what a movie has to offer instead of wishing for what it could have been?

Case in point #1:  Hanna

If there wasn't my revered Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice) and Saoirse Ronan--who owned the film, I would have walked out of the theater and said, "Okay, whatever." But they were there and I walked away vexed. Instead of living, by proxy, Hanna's experience, I was continually sidestepping the plot holes, pretending not to see them (Hint: spoiler Homing beacon? Huh? end spoiler). I wanted more Ursula Le Guin's character Tenar from The Tombs of Atuan. "It was very strange. Living, being in the world, was a much greater and stranger thing than she had ever dreamed." I have to admit that I am not an action film aficionado--no crossing the t's or dotting the i's here. Bring on the handheld!

#2 Certified Copy

I rarely get to go to a bona fide art house cinema and was thrilled to be there. I watched and waited and wished to love it. I must have fallen asleep for a while because when I opened my eyes, they had shifted in their chairs and were now discussing how he snores when he sleeps. I was mortified to think that I might have just foreshadowed to the audience around me that piece of dialogue. Here I had beautiful actors, beautiful scenery, beautiful languages, but the self absorbed dialogue was no more interesting than what I hear around me on a typical day. The film left me as cold and detached as William Shimell's character.