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Tag Archives: Iran
Jafar Panahi Issues Statement
Jafar Panahi should need no introduction, but just in case… Jafar Panahi is a director from Iran, with an international reputation, and an incredible list of films, The White Balloon, The Mirror, The Circle, Offside, Crimson Gold. (He’s one of … Continue reading
Jafar Panahi Will Not Be Silenced
Jafar Panahi was arrested in 2009 on the suspicion of making a film critical of the regime in Iran. He was not allowed to travel, to give interviews, to make films. He was in prison. He went on hunger strike. … Continue reading
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2014
I may write some magnum opus in the next two days, you never know, but here are links to some of the things I’ve written in 2014, here and elsewhere. I have worked hard to keep my site an eclectic … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Movies, Music, Personal
Tagged Alfred Wertheimer, Anna Magnani, Austria, Carroll Baker, Christopher Hitchens, Claude Rains, Eli Wallach, Elvis Presley, Eminem, France, friends, Gena Rowlands, Germany, Harry Potter, Howard Hawks, Inherent Vice, Iran, Iranian film, Israel, Italy, Jafar Panahi, Japan, Jim Jarmusch, Joan Crawford, John Cassavetes, Juliette Binoche, Kristen Wiig, Kwik Stop, Lars von Trier, Lauren Bacall, Lester Bangs, Liv Ullmann, Lon Chaney, Love Streams, Mark Twain, Martin Scorsese, Nicolas Cage, Orpheus Descending, Palestine, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Poland, Richard Linklater, Romania, Russia, Seth Rogen, Seymour Cassel, Sudden Fear, Supernatural, Sweden, Tennessee Williams, The Beatles, The Everly Brothers, Tommy Lee Jones, Trotsky, war, year in writing, Zac Efron
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Circumstance (2011); Dir. Maryam Keshavarz
Four Iranian teenagers sit in a sound booth, headphones on, making obscene sex noises, doing intermittent shots of liquor to loosen up, and bursting into laughter, ruining the takes. The director is annoyed. They are in the process of dubbing … Continue reading
The Color of Paradise (1999); Dir. Majid Majidi
Expect Spoilers A little blind boy named Mohammad sits on a bench outside his school in Tehran. It is the beginning of summer vacation and parents from all over Iran have come to collect their children. We have seen the … Continue reading
2012 Books Read
Live from Memphis. Here are the books I read in 2012. 1. My Life with Elvis – by Becky Yancey. The first book published after Elvis’ death from one of the insiders on his team. She worked in the office … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Afghanistan, books read, Christopher Hitchens, Diane Keaton, Elvis Presley, Iran, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Rebecca West, Stephen King, Vladimir Nabokov
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Donya (2003): “You Have Exhumed My Life.”
When we first see real estate mogul, Hadj Reza Enayat (Mohamad Reza Sharifinia) he is collapsed in a chair, his swollen feet being washed by his whining wife (Gohar Kheirandish). Hadj is a grotesque person, in our first impression. He … Continue reading
The Importance Of “As If”: Women Without Men (2009)
A group of intellectuals and artists sit around a table in a restaurant, drinking wine, and talking about Camus and democracy. Camus’ comments on freedom are approved of by some in the group, and rejected by another, who argues that … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged historical drama, Iran, Iranian film, politics, reviews, Shabnam Toloui
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Snapshots
— I watched Mike Judge’s Idiocracy this weekend. It’s a bit brilliant. I especially loved his observation about the deterioration of the English language, how those who speak correctly will eventually be looked on with suspicion. It actually made me … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Movies, Personal
Tagged Iran, July and Half of August, short films, snapshots, Vladimir Nabokov
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