It was with a small amount of trepidation that I saw this latest from one of my favourite directors Asghar Farhadi (or as Facebook autocaptioning calls him, Glasgow Harvey).
Continue readingParallel Tales (2026)
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Past Future Continuous (2025)
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Oh, I feel conflicted about this documentary. I was going along with it for quite a while, even forgiving some things that didn’t quite make sense – were there no neighbours who could drop in or answer a phone call? – but a growing unease left me feeling cheated.
Continue readingThe Things You Kill (2025)
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This is a tricksy, slightly surreal drama that may have had more impact on me if it wasn’t 9:30 pm and the fourth film of my day.
Continue readingCutting Through Rocks (2025)
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This is one of those deeply upsetting documentaries where you are watching the viciousness and callousness when patriarchy is challenged play out in a rural Iranian village.
Continue readingIt Was Just an Accident (یک تصادف ساده)(2025)
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1001 Frames (2025)
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I think this one is going to be polarising. Judging by the impassioned conversations I had with fellow MIFF goers after the film, I can see there are many different takes on its confronting structure and content.
Continue readingThe Sealed Soil (Khake Sar Beh Mohr)(1977)
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One thing to try not to miss at film festivals is the rare films that don’t get any other platform for viewing. Narva Marbili’s The Sealed Soil is one of these, touted as the oldest surviving Iranian film directed by a woman.
Continue readingThe Apprentice (2024)
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I think it says a lot that a film like this can be made about someone who is now the sitting president of the United States of America.
Continue readingIron Island (جزیره آهنی)(2005)
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Mohammad Rasoulof keeps his political critique subtle in this early drama set almost completely on a rusting hulk of an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.
Continue readingHead Wind (باد دبور) (2008)
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ACMI in Melbourne is running a retrospective of the films of Mohammad Rasoulof, an Iranian director who has made some of my favourite films (Manuscripts Don’t Burn, A Man of Integrity, There is No Evil).
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