Sunday evening, just 2 hours out of Monteverdi's Vespers, I saw Bahman Ghobadi's enigmatically titled No One Knows About Persian Cats. In a departure from the rural village settings of his previous films, this one shows the furtive lives of urban musicians in Tehran. It is still a kind of road movie, though, as it follows 2 young indie rockers as they assemble a band & seek a way to get out of Iran. Along the way we get glimpses of creative lives that have been pushed underground. It is full of vivid characters & compelling musical performances in styles from traditional music to rap. It was hard not to be amused by the heavy metal band playing to cows that hate their music. A sense of urgency pervades the film, & there is no scene or detail without a point. Even though the tragic ending is telegraphed in the opening image, it still comes as a shock. It's such an indictment of contemporary Iranian society that I wonder how Mr. Ghobadi has managed to make his movies & stay out of prison in Iran. He may be one of the best film-makers working right now. The movie is currently playing at Opera Plaza Cinema, to enthusiastic Ghobadi fans, I hope.
Monday, April 26, 2010
No One Knows About Persian Cats
Sunday evening, just 2 hours out of Monteverdi's Vespers, I saw Bahman Ghobadi's enigmatically titled No One Knows About Persian Cats. In a departure from the rural village settings of his previous films, this one shows the furtive lives of urban musicians in Tehran. It is still a kind of road movie, though, as it follows 2 young indie rockers as they assemble a band & seek a way to get out of Iran. Along the way we get glimpses of creative lives that have been pushed underground. It is full of vivid characters & compelling musical performances in styles from traditional music to rap. It was hard not to be amused by the heavy metal band playing to cows that hate their music. A sense of urgency pervades the film, & there is no scene or detail without a point. Even though the tragic ending is telegraphed in the opening image, it still comes as a shock. It's such an indictment of contemporary Iranian society that I wonder how Mr. Ghobadi has managed to make his movies & stay out of prison in Iran. He may be one of the best film-makers working right now. The movie is currently playing at Opera Plaza Cinema, to enthusiastic Ghobadi fans, I hope.
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2 comments:
This movie was a huge success in Iran, vendors were selling illicit copies all over the place...we bought a copy, unfortunately my Farsi is a little rusty...
How cool that the movie is being distributed in the same way as the underground music in the movie. One of the main characters gets caught possessing foreign DVDs, & according to that scene in the movie, the penalty is pretty rough unless you are an extremely fast & persuasive talker.
You can probably enjoy the music-video segments without understanding the Farsi. & some of the songs are in English.
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