Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tinear (A) on January 31, 2013 at 08:37:20

the story of a frenetic television producer who has traveled to a remote village to capture the death of the area's oldest resident. To his continuing alarm, the old woman refuses to die, leading him and his crew to spend long days, completely shut off from their usual lives and forced to live the village one.
You won't recognize any of the clichés of small town life that American films feel compelled to include, i.e. the rube; the desperate single women trying to escape, etc.
Instead, the director films a documentary-like take of the town, leading us to wonder whom the subject of this effort is--- perhaps a self-portrait?
For much of the movie, we are lulled into this peaceful village life, until an emergency occurs and the producer meets an old doctor who journeys to his clients through the vast countryside upon a small motorbike.
As is typical with this "school of Tarkovsky" film, dialogue doesn't give away very much. The viewer is expected to analyze even the smallest details to develop his own narrative.
It is a fascinating view not of Iranian rural life, but of modern civilization and what it has meant to human life.
(Indeed, we discussed this film almost 7 years ago and I am pleased to report that it very much rewards another view).

Edits: 01/31/13