Kourosh Ahari's THE NIGHT: You can take Iranians out of Iran, but...

...you can't take Iran out of Iranians. That's one of the several take-aways the viewer might glean from the new, would-be scary movie rather generically titled THE NIGHT, from writer/director/producer Kourosh Ahari (shown below), an Iranian émigré who moved with his family to Palo Alto, California, when he was 18 years old. 

Before TrustMovies gets into why this movie bored the pants off him, let me say how well-photographed it is (by Maz Makhani). Quite classily done, really. And also that it is interesting (for a short while, at least) to see a film about Iranians residing in the USA. That's something different from our usual view of the citizens of Iran. 

Content-wise, however, there is maybe, if we're very lucky, a bare half-hour of story here. The movie itself is stretched out to 105 minutes. Ouch. Or more à propos, snore. The plot, such as it is, involves a family -- dad, mom, infant -- who have left the home of their friends after a late-evening dinner, and decide (it's actually Dad who makes the decision) that it is too late to drive home so they must stay in a hotel instead.

The remainder of the movie has them menaced, it would seem, by the hotel itself . Yes, all the usual signifiers are present: a naughty, malfunctioning GPS; the very odd hotel (where the family is the only guest); a black cat; a sudden nosebleed; a mirror that doesn't quite reflect the image facing it; people who, out of the blue, appear and then disappear; and on and on. And on.

To call The Night a slow-burn horror/thriller is to severely understate things. For younger critics, who have not yet spent most of their life -- from The Shining onward (and backward) -- viewing stuff like this over and over, there may be something that seems half-assedly original. But not for most of the rest of us.

For quite some time, the dialog we hear most often is of the "Sleep, my love. Go to sleep" variety (Mom to babe, Dad to Mom). As the movie progresses, there is a sudden scare or two, but much of what we experience is firmly in the been-there/seen-that mode. As things grow crazier, Dad and Mom grow more witless and make ever stupider decisions -- knocking on every room of the hotel after being told that they are its only guests and yelling "Stay here; I'll be right back!" even though the first general rule of movies in the scary genre is, when things get this creepy, Don't Leave Each Other Alone!

Eventually we get nitwit bromides such as the truth will set you free, along with suggestions that maybe guilt and expiation are really behind all the machinations. Whatever. I should add that, in addition to its being boring and obvious, The Night is also downright reactionary in its view of men, women and their place in society. As I say, you can take Iranians out of Iran, but.... (Maybe this is not actually the filmmaker's view. More likely, he's hoping to get the film released in his home country, too.)

From IFC Midnight, in Persian (and very occasional English) with English subtitles, The Night opens this Friday, January 29, in theaters virtual (and maybe actual), and via streaming/VOD. Click here for more information.

Another fine French courtroon drama exploring the way we live now: Stéphane Demoustier's THE GIRL WITH A BRACELET

When it rains, it pours. Here's the second post in a row to feature a good French film dealing with a murder trial: This time it's director/co-writer Stéphane Demoustier's THE GIRL WITH A BRACELET.

Instead of trying a husband for his wife's murder, we have a teenager accused of killing her best friend. As the facts/ suppositions of the case unfold, the question of guilt (about a lot of things other than the murder itself) begins to taint more than merely the defendant herself.

Parental responsibility, social media, sibling rivalry, teen friendship and (very) casual sex -- all of this and more is woven into this unusual and unusually dark and unsettling tale brought to fine life by M. Demoustier (shown at right), his co-writers and the excellent cast assembled here. 

The actors are particularly well cast. The pivotal role of Lise, the defendant in the case, is played by newcomer Melissa Guers (above and below), and Ms Guers captures so much about the difficult life of today's teenager. Sure, the teen years have always been hard (raging hormones, breaking away from parental control, peer pressure, etc.), but toss in our current and ever-more-crappy social media, and how much worse can it possibly get?

As for the parents, well, dad's too controlling, while mom perhaps is not stern enough. (That's Roschdy Zem and Chiara Mastroianni, respectively left and center, below, as Lise's father and mother.) There plenty of blame here to go around, but the filmmaker does not pile the weight on too heavily or unfairly, TrustMovies thinks. Instead he makes us think. And that's one of the points of this intelligent, questioning movie.

While much of the dialog is of the expected "courtroom" sort, the film cleverly catches you off-guard at numerous times, among these when Lise's mom levels a dead-on accusation at the prosecutor, and Lise herself questions why the court seems to so easily accept the testimony of a young male witness over that of her own. 

That prosecutor (above) is played by the excellent actress Anaïs Demoustier, who brings the right degree of professionalism and strength to the role, while Annie Mercier (below) as Lise's lawyer proves equally so on the opposite end -- even as the movie itself (as do so many French films) seems to come down on the side of "innocent until clearly proven guilty." 

Yet, by the very quiet and non-melodramatic conclusion, enough doubt remains to make you question everything all over again. Especially the manner in which children are being adapted into society in our current ever-more-fraught times.

From Icarus Home Video and Distrib Films US, in French with English subtitles and running a fast 95 minutes, The Girl With a Bracelet hit the street yesterday, Tuesday, September 22, on DVD and is available now digitally at virtual cinemas. Click here and then follow instructions to access a virtual viewing.

Vahid Jalilvand's NO DATE, NO SIGNATURE: The arrival of a fine new filmmaker from Iran

New York City's venerable art house, Film Forum, reopens this coming week with a new screen and a new and most welcome Iranian film entitled NO DATE, NO SIGNATURE. As co-written (with Ali Zarnegar) and directed by sophomore filmmaker Vahid Jalilvand (shown below), the movie is very nearly as good as much of the work of Iran's more experienced filmmaker, Asghar Farhadi. Via its specific, small-scale key incident, the film slowly grows into a hugely compelling situation that encompasses an entire community and culture.

Misters Jalilvand and Zarnegar have created what you might call a "hospital procedural" in which the cause of death is paramount but just slightly unclear.

Responsibility and guilt hover over quite a number of people involved here, but the two main recipients are the husband/father Moosa (Navid Mohammadzadeh, shown below) of a family clearly having some trouble making financial ends meet, and the prominent Dr. Nariman of the local hospital (played by Amir Agha'ee, further below) who seems to be having no financial problem at all.

How these two meet and proceed thereafter is the thread that binds the movie, which is full of Iranian culture and mores, some of which are easily understood, while others may take more consideration by those of us who've not lived in a society such as this. Still, so much that we see and hear in this film is indeed "international."

How the police and judicial system proceed with their investigation, together with the way in which the medical establishment works (or doesn't quite) -- it's all here, woven into the fabric of the film with great skill and subtlety. And the death at the center of the movie is among the most surprising and quietly compelling in cinema.

Without ever raising its voice (though its characters sometimes do), the film manages to be feminist and anti-fundamentalist via the look we get into the thoughts and actions of its two major female characters: Sayeh, the doctor's lover (Hediyeh Tehrani, above), who also works as a doctor at the hospital, and Leila, Moosa's not-so-acquiescent wife (Zakieh Bebahani, shown below).

Both of these women add to the depth and strength of the film by constantly nudging their men toward (or occasionally, as in Sayeh's case, away from) greater responsibility. Class, economics, and reputation come to the fore, and are handled with just as much skill as all else in this arresting movie about ethics, morality, autopsies and chickens.

No Date, No Signature proves a fine way to reopen Film Forum, and should also greatly please fans of the immaculate and thoughtful work of Asghar Faradi. Released by Distrib Films US, running 103 minutes and in Farsi with English subtitles, the movie has its U.S. theatrical premiere this coming Wednesday, August 1, in New York City at Film Forum, and will open on August 10 in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Royal. To view all past and upcoming playdates, cities and theaters, simply click here and then click on Watch Now on the small task bar midway down the page.

1945: Ferenc Török's elegant, bleak view of post-WWII Hungary opens in South Florida

We've seen a lot of Holocaust horror, along with post-Holocaust family films and secrets-and-lies investigations about coming to terms with it all. What we've explored least of, perhaps, is tales of Jewish homes and property taken over by non-Jews after the various round-ups and deportations that took place in Nazi-conquered countries throughout Europe. (We got just a taste of this in Sarah's Key and certain other films.) This loss of property, though certainly not as important as the lives lost, is at the heart of the new Hungarian film 1945.

As co-written (with Gábor T. Szántó) and directed by Ferenc Török, shown at right, 1945 takes place in that particular year, after World War II had ended and, for the first time since the deportation,  Jews -- just two of them, actually: an old man and a young one (shown below) -- arrive by train to this sleepy little Hungarian town. Why have they come, and what do they want?

From the outset, it is clear that, however quietly and subtly the townspeople take this all in, they are, to a man and woman, hugely disturbed by the Jews' appearance. Yet it is also clear that they've been aware that, someday down  the road, this would most likely happen.

As the movie progresses, and the two Jews make their way slowly toward the town, the townspeople -- from the powerful town clerk (Péter Rudolf, below, left) down to the town drunk and some lowly housewives -- fret and finger-point, give in to guilt, hide their ill-gotten valuables and/or try to decide their best course of action.

Russia is already controlling Hungary, though the iron hand of its insane Communist dictator has not yet made its power fully felt, yet it is clear that the citizens are already taking sides. And today happens also to mark the wedding of the town clerk's son (Bence Tasnádi, above, right) to a pretty local girl (Dóra Sztarenki, below, right), of whom the groom's mom (Eszter Nagy-Kálózy, below, left) heartily disapproves -- for reasons that will soon (and then later, too) become clear.

The journey toward town of the Jews, together with all the tsuris this causes the townspeople and even their priest, brings out the rather shocking inhumanity of man toward his fellow men, while setting the stage for a showdown of sorts.

And yet, throughout, 1945 is resolutely un-melodramatic. as it unfolds slowly and gracefully, if consistently fraught with fear and anguish. The elegant cinematography (by Elemér Ragályi) is often stunningly beautiful, with its final image as Holocaust-redolent as you could wish. I admit that the film moves slowly at times, and it sometimes scores its points a bit too obviously, as well.

Overall, though, 1945 proves a strong enough indictment of Hungary (and also of nearly all the Nazi-conquered countries) in its treatment of the Jews to warrant a viewing and the accompanying discussion that will surely arise.

From Menemsha Films and running 91 minutes, the movie opens here in South Florida on February 16 -- in Miami at the AMC Aventura 24, in Fort Lauderdale at The Classic Gateway Theatre, in Tamarac at The Last Picture Show, in Boca Raton at the Living Room Theaters and the Regal Shadowood, and at the Movies of Delray and Movies of Lake Worth.

Personal appearance!  

Moviegoers can meet the director of 1945, Ferenc Török, on

Friday, Feb. 16, at Movies of Delray at 12:30pm, 3:00pm, 5:20pm; 

and at The Classic Gateway Theater, 7:20pm and 9:30pm. 

On Saturday, February 17, he will appear at the Movies of Delray 

at 12:30pm, 3:00pm, and 5:20pm, at the Regal Shadowood at 4:50pm 

and at Tamarac's The Last Picture Show at  7:10pm. 

On Sunday, February 18, look for him at the AMC Aventura 24 at 1:45pm 

and at the Living Room Theaters in Boca Raton at 4:30pm and 6:50pm. 

For more information readers can visit www.menemshafilms.com/1945  

1945: Ferenc Török's elegant, bleak view of post-WWII Hungary opens in So. Florida

We've seen a lot of Holocaust horror, along with post-Holocaust family films and secrets-and-lies investigations about coming to terms with it all. What we've explored least of, perhaps, is tales of Jewish homes and property taken over by non-Jews after the various round-ups and deportations that took place in Nazi-conquered countries throughout Europe. (We got just a taste of this in Sarah's Key and certain other films.) This loss of property, though certainly not as important as the lives lost, is at the heart of the new Hungarian film 1945.

As co-written (with Gábor T. Szántó) and directed by Ferenc Török, shown at right, 1945 takes place in that particular year, after World War II had ended and, for the first time since the deportation,  Jews -- just two of them, actually: an old man and a young one (shown below) -- arrive by train to this sleepy little Hungarian town. Why have they come, and what do they want?

From the outset, it is clear that, however quietly and subtly the townspeople take this all in, they are, to a man and woman, hugely disturbed by the Jews' appearance. Yet it is also clear that they've been aware that, someday down  the road, this would most likely happen.

As the movie progresses, and the two Jews make their way slowly toward the town, the townspeople -- from the powerful town clerk (Péter Rudolf, below, left) down to the town drunk and some lowly housewives -- fret and finger-point, give in to guilt, hide their ill-gotten valuables and/or try to decide their best course of action.

Russia is already controlling Hungary, though the iron hand of its insane Communist dictator has not yet made its power fully felt, yet it is clear that the citizens are already taking sides. And today happens also to mark the wedding of the town clerk's son (Bence Tasnádi, above, right) to a pretty local girl (Dóra Sztarenki, below, right), of whom the groom's mom (Eszter Nagy-Kálózy, below, left) heartily disapproves -- for reasons that will soon (and then later, too) become clear.

The journey toward town of the Jews, together with all the tsuris this causes the townspeople and even their priest, brings out the rather shocking inhumanity of man toward his fellow men, while setting the stage for a showdown of sorts.

And yet, throughout, 1945 is resolutely un-melodramatic. as it unfolds slowly and gracefully, if consistently fraught with fear and anguish. The elegant cinematography (by Elemér Ragályi) is often stunningly beautiful, with its final image as Holocaust-redolent as you could wish. I admit that the film moves slowly at times, and it sometimes scores its points a bit too obviously, as well.

Overall, though, 1945 proves a strong enough indictment of Hungary (and also of nearly all the Nazi-conquered countries) in its treatment of the Jews to warrant a viewing and the accompanying discussion that will surely arise.

From Menemsha Films and running 91 minutes, the movie opens here in South Florida on February 16 -- in Miami at the AMC Aventura 24, in Fort Lauderdale at The Classic Gateway Theatre, in Tamarac at The Last Picture Show, in Boca Raton at the Living Room Theaters and the Regal Shadowood, and at the Movies of Delray and Movies of Lake Worth.

Personal appearance!  

Moviegoers can meet the director of 1945, Ferenc Török, on

Friday, Feb. 16, at Movies of Delray at 12:30pm, 3:00pm, 5:20pm; 

and at The Classic Gateway Theater, 7:20pm and 9:30pm. 

On Saturday, February 17, he will appear at the Movies of Delray 

at 12:30pm, 3:00pm, and 5:20pm, at the Regal Shadowood at 4:50pm 

and at Tamarac's The Last Picture Show at  7:10pm. 

On Sunday, February 18, look for him at the AMC Aventura 24 at 1:45pm 

and at the Living Room Theaters in Boca Raton at 4:30pm and 6:50pm. 

For more information readers can visit www.menemshafilms.com/1945  

POP AYE: Kristen Tan's original, delightful road-trip-cum-elephant opens in NYC and L.A.

If you have any interest in discovering what a male mid-life crisis looks like, Thai-style, or any intertest in elephants as traveling companions, or really just an interest in unusual, surprising, enriching new movies, then I would heartily recommend POP AYE -- which turns out to be all these things and more. Its writer/director, Krisiten Tan (whose first full-length film this is), has fashioned a parable about coming to terms with one's past, as well as with aging, guilt, life, work and love that takes the form of a road trip by a late-middle-aged man, accompanied by the elephant he knew and cared for as a child. Yes, this is a tale, the likes of which you will probably not have seen previously.

Ms Tan, shown at right, does a lovely job of plunging us into the midst of things via the immediate life of her hero, a fellow named Thana (played by Thaneth Warakulnukroh, shown above and below, with an elephant named Bong, who essays the title role here) and then slowly lets us learn the specifics of his life, his work and his desires so that, by the finale -- as rich and unexpected as much of it is -- everything we now know about him makes sense on several levels: realistic, symbolic, psychological. This is quite an accomplishment for any film, let alone a fledgling effort such as Pop Aye.

Among the things that we learn about Thana is that he is being phased out of his role as one of the top dogs at his architectural firm, as well as by his wife, who seems to want little to do with him, particularly in the sex department. One evening, as he drives around Bangkok feeling depressed, he sees an elephant that reminds him of -- and might in fact be -- the one he took care of as a child, and with whom he grew to young adulthood. (This sort of "elephant" thing can happen more often in Thailand than, say, here in the USA.). Thana stops the car, goes back for a look, and sure enough....

So begins a bizarre but surprisingly believable road trip in which Thana and Pop Aye wend their way toward the village where they spent their younger days. Along the way they get a lift from a truck driver, meet a poor but oddly contented man who pines a bit for his lost wife, become involved with some local police who try to escort the pair to an animal refuge, drink and sing Karaoke with a transgender lady of the night (below), and finally bond with some friends-of-new-friends and a relative who provide both surprising emotion and an oddball kick to this strange tale.

As writer and director, Ms Tan negotiates her storytelling with great visual beauty, humor, irony, unexpected yet heartfelt emotion, and finally the kind of surprise that, in retrospect, makes perfect sense. (The movie's funniest line sprouts from the mouth of a Buddhist monk regarding payment for cremation, while its most refreshing and lively visual comes as Thana attempts to climb atop his traveling companion.)

The journey turns out, of course, to be one of self-discovery, but this is neither telegraphed nor hammered home too strongly. It is also a film about learning what is and is not important in life. In its final section the film grows ever more mysterious and simultaneously all the more rich and resonant, as past and present merge, guilt is revealed and growth -- not a lot but enough -- is achieved. For a first film, Pop Aye is remarkably sophisticated.

From Kino Lorber, the movie opened this past week in New York City at Film Forum, and will hit Los Angeles, this coming Friday, July 7, at Landmark's NuArt and from there, over the weeks to come in another dozen or more cities. To view all currently scheduled playdates,, with cities and theaters listed, click here and then scroll down and click on PLAYDATES.

THE DROWNING: Bette Gordon's adaptation of Pat Barker's novel, Border Crossing, misfires

Award-winning British writer Pat Barker's novel Regeneration received a good film adaptation back in 1997 (the movie has since been re-titled Behind the Lines), but so far as I know, most of her work remains unfilmed. This changes some, though not for the better, with the release of the new movie THE DROWNING, based on Barker's 2001 novel Border Crossing. The filmmaker here -- Bette Gordon -- is one whose work I have much admired, especially her 2009 movie Handsome Harry. Not having read the source novel by Ms Barker, TrustMovies can only go by the screenplay adaptation, credited to Stephen Molton and Frank Pugliese, which is pretty much a hash. It seems to want to keep us guessing, regarding of one the story's leading characters. Yet, because it also keeps pointing rather directly to that character's guilt and total inability to be trusted, the result makes the other lead character, our protagonist, seem like a total jerk for continuing to behave as he does.

Ms Gordon, pictured at left, gives her film a moodiness that does go a certain distance in pulling us in -- the bleak New England scenery proves a help here -- and her opening is indeed a grabber, as a loving couple takes a walk, only to be hit with the sight of what appears to be a young man, below, about to commit suicide by jumping into uncertain waters.

Yet what follows -- tons of coincidence that reeks more of plotting and planning than of happenstance -- seems so deliberately and aggressively created to keep us off-balance (remember Jagged Edge: the granddaddy and best example of this sort of thing?) that it all soon grows more tiresome than interesting.

The good cast -- a couple of B-listers and one up-and-comer -- does what it can with this scenario. Josh Charles (below, right, and at bottom) plays the would-be "hero," a shrink who turns out to have more than a nodding acquaintance with the young man he rescues from that water, but the under-rated Julia Stiles (below, left) is rather wasted in the completely re-active role of the shrink's wife. (If you haven't seen Ms Stiles' ace performance in that terrific black comedy It's a Disaster, put that one on your list).

In the role of the "suicidal" antagonist, Avan Jogia (below), keeps us guessing until he begins to mostly annoy us -- given his character's rather obvious traits. Is this kid evil? Or not? And whose responsibility might it be to take care of this?

Everyone we meet, from his parole officer (Tracie Thoms) to his shrink to his dad to -- well, you name 'em -- has evidently been compromised in some major way. This would appear to be the kid's special skill, but the movie also lays much of this at the feet of the far-too-stupid characters, especially our shrink, below, who surround him.

If you make it through the finale, you will indeed get a drowning, but by then, the movie has totally gone off the rails. There is no depth to any of these characters -- just a lot of creaky, pasted-together exposition to explain the past. Consequently, the question that the movie's poster (at top) asks: If evil exists, can it be transformed? gets no real answer.

From Paladin and running 99 minutes, The Drowning opens in New York City tomorrow, Wednesday, May 10, at the IFC Center and is said to be moving from there into limited national release.