Top 10 Artistic Iranian Movies you HAVE to watch

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iranian films are often humanist social

dramas that explore a seemingly

minimalist storyline

but through the art of illusion they are

rich in political subtext

the tension between religion and culture

as well as conformity and individual

desire

create a riveting viewing experience

to be able to express emotions and

create chemistry between the characters

iranian filmmakers often lean on

traditional elements such as rich

heritage of poetry and sufi storytelling

that combine allegory and spiritual

elements to circumvent social and

cultural mars

in this essay we focus on award-winning

artistic iranian movies that have been

praised worldwide

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at number 10 we have the salesman

of alhadi is widely regarded as one of

the world's leading dramatists working

today delivering tightly knotted

narratives that expertly blend and nerve

shredding tension with an acutely

observed realism

his 2017 masterpiece the salesman won

the academy award for best foreign

language film and also won the best

screen flavor for farhadi and the best

actor for hosseini at the 2016 canned

festival

this movie tells the story of a married

couple who performed the play death of a

salesman on stage

aside from the narrative of the play the

wife is assaulted and the husband is out

to find the attacker since she refuses

to take legal action and is suffering

from ptsd

the salesman is about trust and honor

about violence against women in a

patriarchal society

about the woe that is in marriage

but is also about death

a salesman and his hidden brutality of

class

the movie is a psychological and moral

drama

about how one man's anger

and damage self-image

drives him to the brink of destroying

the very thing he ostensibly wants to

save the most

his marriage

like farhadi's other movies in the

salesman farhadi manages to take a

failed fairly straightforward social

realist narrative and apply it to a more

ambiguous structure with a more complex

insight into the characters portrayed

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at number nine we have

where is the friend's house by abbas

kyorostemi

this movie is the first of the three

interrelated films in abbas kiarostemi's

kokori trilogy

named after the northern iranian village

where the films are set

the boy searches for the home of his

classmate whose school notebook he has

accidentally taken

and the director transforms this trip

into a miraculous child's eye adventure

of the everyday

as our young hero zigzags determinantly

across two towns

hated and sometimes misdirected by those

he encounters

his quest becomes both a revealing

portrait of rural iranian society in all

its richness complexity and the touching

parable about the meaning of personal

responsibility

sensitive and profound where is the

friend's house

is shot through with all the beauty

tension and wonder in a single day can

contain

whereas the friends house has all the

qualities that put iranian cinema on the

map

formal simplicity

emotional directness

and the use of children as a window into

society's ills

opening the film surface and you'll find

a movie about the moral duties we owe to

each other and into society

what it means to be a good person

and about taking care of one another

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at number eight we have gabe yappe is a

magical and visually stunning film set

in the arid country style of iran

an old man and woman have a richly

colored carpet that they cherish

suddenly gabe a beautiful young woman

appears before them

she has worn the carpet and is the

spirit of the

carpet her story on spools before their

eyes

the protagonist is the personification

of the gabba rug

a type of persian rock woven by nomadic

kashgar tribes

the gape is woven throughout the seasons

narrating a story with minimalist

depictions alongside weaving processes

writer and director mohsen

buff

is an inventive fabulist who uses color

character fantasy reality and

spirituality to convey the mysteries of

love family ritual and creativity

the movie shows us how nomadic tribes

take the colors from nature and dye

their fabric

color is given a history

the sheep is fed on greenery the wool is

shorn for clothing flowers boiled for

color

and the cash guy who wear these colors

and clothes as an homage to nature

this poetic and picturesque movie

celebrate the gnarled beauty of the

natural world

the art of weaving and the unique way

that stories give life and shape and

meaning

that is a sense lucious film that stays

with you long after the closing credits

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at number eight we have the white

balloon

in director jafar panahi's debut feature

the white balloon written by abbas kyo

rastami

focuses on a young girl as she wanders

through the iranian capital of tehran on

her way to buy goldfish

countering various adults who ignore or

refuse to help her when she loses her

money

film effectively shows that singular

perspective of a child going through a

typical mundane task

as the imbalanced power dynamic between

the child and the surrounding adults is

heavily reinforced

the brilliance of the film is in its

simplicity

the story that unfolds is about the

little girl's adventure with the shop

owner and the strangers on the street

who she's not supposed to talk to but

does so regardless

we get caught up in it because it's so

universally understood

hanahi's humanistic approach towards the

perspective of a young girl allows her

voice to be heard

whereas such voices are often silenced

by an older male-centric world

fenahi allows the wishes of the child to

be just as valuable as those of adults

an ability that children in the real

world often lack

at number six we have about ellie in

about ellie asar farhadi asks shin about

our capacity for deception a drama

thriller feature about a woman who goes

missing on a short vacation outside of

tehran

a group of friends rent a villa on the

caspian sea

they bring along their families with

their kids

but one of them brings with her the

kindergarten teacher of her daughter

as she plans to act as a matchmaker

between her and her divorced friend

they all seem to be having a great time

until ellie the previously mentioned

teacher is asked to look after the kids

playing near the sea

and then in the next scene she

disappears

her mysterious disappearance sets in

motion a series of deceptions and

revelations that threaten to shatter

everything they hold dear

the movie has a dramatic structure

that's like peeling an onion

first layer we see

seem familiar and self-evident but the

more layers we reach the more complex

the whole becomes

it's breezy then suspenseful

and gradually crushing sad

on its own terms

it's a perfect film

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at number five we have the color of

paradise

in majit majidi's fourth film which won

the best picture award at montreal

international film festival

we meet muhammad

an eight-year-old boy who is blind

lives with his father two sisters and

grandmother in a small village

the story follows the plight of both

muhammad and his father who is hoping to

remarry following the death of his wife

compared by many to federico fellini's

la strada

partially due to the film's end

the color of paradise is a rich and

textured portrait of family life as it

is preoccupied with the often strained

relationship between father and son

it also features an endearing

performance by the whole cast and is a

powerhouse of emotions

that touches to the very core of who we

are as humans

it is a transcendent film deeply

committed to and beautifully wrote

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it will make anyone who sees it look at

the world with new eyes

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at number four we have turtles can fly

this 2004 film is made by bahman roboti

and won several awards including the

best film at the san sebastian

international film festival

the film follows a young kurdish boy

named satellite

satellite leads a gang of children many

of whom are missing limbs as a result of

numerous land mines on the border

they work together to clear the land

mines and resell them to the united

nations

as the film unravels we discovered the

relationship between the children and

the stories of their past traumas

turtles can fly is a sharp and

disturbing dose of reality for those who

are concerned with their own problems

the body has some extraordinary crowd

scenes and remarkable spectacles

involving non-professionals

an authentic landscape of deprivation

which he weaves into a heartfelt story

of his own devising

he also has a journalist's feel for what

is relevant combined with the

distinctively spiritual capacity for

calm

it is a fiercely somber story compelling

sighted in here and now

turtles can fly is a testament to the

resilience of these brave children

and their undying hope to one day live

in peace

at number three we have children of

heaven the 1999 academy award nominee

for the best foreign language film of

the year and award winner at singapore

warsaw and newport film festivals

directed by majid majidi

it is the story of a boy from a poor

family who loses his sister's only pair

of shoes

since the family cannot afford to buy a

new pair

the siblings decide not to tell anything

to their parents and share the brother's

shoes until they find a solution

the film follows the story of the

siblings as the brother tries to buy new

shoes for his younger sister without

burdening his parents

children of heaven is full of emotional

scenes and pure lessons of kindness and

empathy

heartfelt masterpiece that teaches us

compassion

ajit majidi's strength lies in the fact

that he has mastered the art of keeping

things simple

there are no fancy camera angles or

deeply rooted philosophies about love

and life

not many people understand kids and

their relationships with each other

like he does

that's what helps him conjure a fairy

tale-like story

set in a conservative rural iranian

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at number two we have taste of cherry

the first iranian film to capture the

palm door

directed by abbas que rostemi this 1997

movie is profound and frustrating and

controversial for exactly that reason

the movie tells the journey of a man who

has lost all love for life and wants

someone to bury him after he takes his

own life

he meets different types of people and

requests them to bury him if he's dead

in exchange for money

everyone tries to show him a different

perspective but he is not interested in

ceremonies

what makes the film interesting is that

at no point of time does the director

explain the reason behind his

unhappiness

it's a film that provokes existential

questions

few films have the essence of being both

strugglingly powerful and simplistic

like taste of

cherry patiently taking its time to let

events unfold and hitting a balance of

seriousness and honesty that succeeds in

never being overbearing

there's always a human quality that

gleams in abbas kieros demi's films

his signature minimalist style of

filmmaking

emphasizing on atmosphere tone and

dialogue

moves at a language

his presentation is grounded

utilizing long one-shot takes stationary

camera movement and lengthy

conversations that inhibit a fly on wall

feeling

as though the audience is a third

passenger listening into the character's

ramblings

it's a quiet celebration of life

covered in a serene bleakness

one that slightly grabs

our attention and does not let go

the film also features a bizarre twist

at the end subtle

provocative and ambiguous

taste of cherry in all its minimalist

glory has earned its spot in the

criterion collection

and

ever made

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the first iranian film to win an academy

award and golden globe for best foreign

language film the film dealt with a

couple who were on the verge of divorce

they lived with their husband's father

and their daughter

the reason for the conflict is that the

husband isn't ready to leave his father

while the wife wants to move out for the

future of their daughter

separation is a morally complex movie

without being morally confusing

it is dramatically tense and emotionally

powerful without being melodramatic and

emotionally overwhelming and it is

sympathetic to all characters and

viewpoints while affirming the power of

truth

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indeed there are no antagonists in this

film all of the characters are

inherently good and are simply striving

to survive against life's challenges

what distinguishes a separation from

other oscar-nominated dramas is the fact

that it is a portrayal of the experience

of an entire nation contained in an

engaging story based on the realities of

present-day

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