Tuesday 8 January 2008

Movie Reviews - Secret Ballot, Ten

Saw two Iranian films this weekend - the first one better than the second.

Secret Ballot

A nice movie about an election agent who lands up on a little island to collect votes - all she meets with is apathy and ignorance. Some memorable characters are the man who brings a whole group of women in a truck and expects them to vote for who he says so; the group that finds out that the candidate they wish to vote for is not on the list, the man who refuses to vote for anyone but God; the villagers who refuse to vote because it means nothing to them; the list goes on. The best thing about this movie is that, though shot with Iranian actors speaking Farsi, the events and situations seen here could be taking place anywhere, and not necessarily on an seclusive Iranian desert island.

Ten

A film that looks at various issues in Iranian society today. The movie consists of ten sequences or conversations shot in a car with a still camera. The driver remains the same each time. She is our main character. The passengers vary from her sister to son to friend to strangers. Each sequence focuses exclusively on either the driver or passenger, so you can hear the conversation taking place, but not see the other character. The conversations are realistic, they deal with the lives of the characters, the problems they face, and how they deal with them - good viewing if you like intense movies that deal with relationships at this raw level.
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