Thighs Wide Shut

The Past (Le passé)
Divorce, Persian-Parisian Style
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
PG-13 | 130 min

Man, Asghar Farhadi sure LOVES himself some divorces!!  And why not?  His last feature, the well acted, but a tad overrated divorce discourse A Separation [TWS review] took home the Best Foriegn Pic Oscar, so if it aint broke, then why fix it?  Well, this time the divorce fun has been shifted from Iran to France, and once again, the divorce in question kinda serves as a macguffin for something deeper goings on, a mystery that will quietly and laboriously reveal its solution, and it’s worth sticking around to see the how and the why!

Our couple on the way outs is (The Artist‘s) Bérénice Bejo and (a terrific) Ali Mosaffa (with a terrifically horrible hairpiece).  She still lives in the outskirts of Paris, holding down a fort of kids, while he returned to Tehran.  He’s back in town, to finalize the dissolution of their marriage, but there’s other shiz going on, like a new man around - Tahar Rahim, and how their relationship came to be.  This new man has his own old lady, but she’s in a coma, and he’s trying to move on, with raggamuffined son Elyes Aguis in tow.  But how’d this woman get to be in a coma, and isn’t this relationship with a new woman a bit scandolous if the old one’s in a coma and he’s already moving on?  Yes, sez Bejo’s daughter, (a solid) Pauline Burlet, who can’t even stand to be home anymore and deal with it.  But there’s more to it all, and now that old husband Mosaffa’s around, all kinds of things will be talked about and discovered and forced to be dealt with

It’s kinda strange that Farhadi barked up the same thematic tree, but I’m glad he did, cause The Past worked a lot better for me than A Separation did.  Can’t exactly figure out why, but lets just hope he doesn’t try to give divorce another look on his next film.  Maybe he can try something tha’s a little happier, like marriage!

Anywho, I’m betting 5 bux that The Past (Le passé) wins Best Foreign Pic at this year’s Oscars. Why? Cause (my beloveded) Film Forum has premiered the winner (at the end of the year) from the last two Academy Awards – Haneke’s Amour in 2012, and yes, Farhadi’s own A Separation in 2011.  Looking forward to finding out what will win ahead of time, when the FF picks their movie to close out 2014!

Ooops, I owe everyone $5. The movie didn’t even make the cut!!!

Verdictgo: Jeepers Worth A Peepers

The Past is present in NY/LA today and elsewhere elsewhen

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

A Separation
(Jodaeiye Nader az Simin)
I-walk, Do Not Iran To A Theater near you
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
PG-13 | 123 min

Is Asghar Farhadi‘s A Separation THE single best movie of 2011, as many have made it out to be?  Well, it might juss be the single bestest Iranian movie of 2011 (out of the total of 1 we’ve seen)!  Or perhaps the bestestest movie of 2011 with a guy (Peyman Moadi) that has a peppered beard that mostly & moistly resembles our own beard!  Or perchance the one starring the hottiest/angriest red(dyed)hair wrapped in a scarf lady (Leila Hatami)!  Or perzantze the one with the year’s worst screen employee (played by Sareh Bayat) who’s got the mos adorable daughter (Kimia Hosseini) east of the Nile river!  There’s no question that it’s tops in 2011 movies when it comes to sequences with the mos poignant hitting one’s self in the head with one’s own hands (Shahab Hosseini)!  But movie?  Hardly!  Sure, it’s nice to see that Iran is capable of other things besides possibly being nuclearly armed, but best movie of 2011?????????  Did these people see Tintin???  Well, that’s not our #1 pick, but it’s up there, and you’ll find out next week what 2011’s #1 is be, by our standards, which should be the standard

Verdictgo: Jeepers Worth A Peepers

Separation has got it together in NY & LA and elsewhere elsewhen

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

oh, and if you see only one Iranianish movie this month, juss rent Persepolis, cause we know you’ve never seen it, and it’s amazingsss!!