Cinema: Iran
Watched Mark Cousins' superb documentary Cinema: Iran last night on Channel 4, part of a season well worth checking out. The only Iranian film I've seen to date is Crimson Gold which I recall being excellent. The master of Iranian film appears to be Kiarostami and I look forward to seeing his stuff over the next week or so. Cousins explained that Iran has a vast, rich culture of poetry and that film makers tend to draw on that:
Unfortunately there were also many generalisations regarding American cinema or cinema of the West being shallow, sensational and superficial. The Iranian film-makers would not wish dismissive generalisations to be cast upon them and yet this untruth is perpetuated somewhat in the documentary. This is of course not to deny the huge numbers of turgid films made and released each year in Europe and of course, the US. Indeed, in the same way that The Cow, the landmark 1960s Iranian film about a man who loves his cow so much he begins to imitate its actions once it dies, appears to lack any depth to its message, a film such as Love, Actually holds equally little appeal which is why I will not seek to watch either. Also worth stressing is that although Iranian masters like Kiarostami and Makhmalbaf deserve a wider recognition, it should not be at the expense of Western masters such as Woody Allen, Shane Meadows, Robert Altman or Vincent Gallo....
Generally, however, the programme was a superb analysis of the culture of a country too many people know too little about. This fact was highlighted, to myself at least, in particular by a Channel 4 news item which revealed the forthcoming British Museum exhibition of artifacts from the huge Persian empire. The item also revealed the disturbing effect of Iran's repressive regime, the blue-eyed female producer being mobbed by the Iranian girls. On the same point, Cousins' film raises an interesting observation that the regime's control over the content of Iranian film has actually increased the films' poetic and existentialist nature. However, the fact that many of the film-makers have now moved away to Europe and India in order to escape the controls perhaps says more than any commentator could and makes any additional comment from me unnecessary.
Poetry is in Iran's bloodstream. Even illiterate villagers quote the writings of
Khayaam, Ha'fez and Sadi, in everyday conversations. The pioneering
filmmakers do so as much as anyone. This is crucial, this is what makes them
seem like magicians today. If your influences are not the great plots of
Dickens or the characters of Hawthorn, but the dazzling philosophical
observation of your national poets, then of course your films will set out
along a very different track from those of other countries.
Unfortunately there were also many generalisations regarding American cinema or cinema of the West being shallow, sensational and superficial. The Iranian film-makers would not wish dismissive generalisations to be cast upon them and yet this untruth is perpetuated somewhat in the documentary. This is of course not to deny the huge numbers of turgid films made and released each year in Europe and of course, the US. Indeed, in the same way that The Cow, the landmark 1960s Iranian film about a man who loves his cow so much he begins to imitate its actions once it dies, appears to lack any depth to its message, a film such as Love, Actually holds equally little appeal which is why I will not seek to watch either. Also worth stressing is that although Iranian masters like Kiarostami and Makhmalbaf deserve a wider recognition, it should not be at the expense of Western masters such as Woody Allen, Shane Meadows, Robert Altman or Vincent Gallo....
Generally, however, the programme was a superb analysis of the culture of a country too many people know too little about. This fact was highlighted, to myself at least, in particular by a Channel 4 news item which revealed the forthcoming British Museum exhibition of artifacts from the huge Persian empire. The item also revealed the disturbing effect of Iran's repressive regime, the blue-eyed female producer being mobbed by the Iranian girls. On the same point, Cousins' film raises an interesting observation that the regime's control over the content of Iranian film has actually increased the films' poetic and existentialist nature. However, the fact that many of the film-makers have now moved away to Europe and India in order to escape the controls perhaps says more than any commentator could and makes any additional comment from me unnecessary.
posted by Steve State at
08:20
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