THE SALESMAN: Another Asghar Farhadi film, another disturbing, moving thought-provoker

What? They produce plays by Arthur Miller in modern-day Iran? It would seem so (even if the censors may have to delete a few lines here and there); at least, that is what we discover via the new film from Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi (of A Separation and a flock of even better films). In his newest work, THE SALESMAN, our very attractive and hot young couple are performing the leading roles of Willy and Linda in Death of a Salesman.

Mr. Farhardi, shown at right, is a continuing master at offering up present-day Iran via its bourgeoisie and making the lives shown and problems explored look, to our eyes, remarkably like our own. Except in certain important cultural ways. (I was going to include the word "religious," but what we see seems so deeply ingrained as to have gone well past religion into the country's culture.) The husband here is also a school-teacher, and we see him (and how his mind works) in the classroom with his students, who seem to like and respect him.

One evening, post-performance, as the wife, home alone, is removing her stage make-up, the buzzer to the couple's apartment building rings. Expecting her husband, she buzzes him in, leaves their apartment door ajar and goes back to the bathroom. This will change their life.

From this point on, the movie, which has begun almost as a kind of critique of life in Iran, opens up into so much more. In the opening scene, the couple's original apartment building must be evacuated, as it appears to be literally breaking apart. Much of the city, it seems, has been rather poorly constructed.

Yet from the "event" onwards, the movie becomes a deeper, unsettling exploration of trust and betrayal, love, respect and, as seems true of all of Farhadi's films, a critique of his country's patriarchal/macho grounding, coupled to a look at slowly budding feminism.

The two leads are, as always in Farhadi's films, first-rate, with Shahab Hosseini (above, whom you might recognize as the nutcase hubby from A Separation) again doing a fine job as a man who slowly unravels in the course of events, and Taraneh Alidoosti (below, who played the title character in About Elly) doing an equally fine job as the wife who is "done wrong" not only by the event in question but by what happens afterward.

Farhadi's movie is part mystery, as solved by amateurs (who, for understandable cultural reasons, do not want to involve the police), and the filmmaker's handling of the sleuthing is expert: smart but not too smart, and very believable. Farhadi also, as is his wont, refuses to disclose all that has happened. But unlike some of what was withheld from us in A Separation, this adds to the situation's complexity, rather than seeming to be merely deliberate withholding on the filmmaker's part.

The result of all this quietly explodes into something much larger and more difficult that we (or this couple) could have expected. There is plenty of guilt to go around, along with a try for redemption. But the thirst for compensation/revenge is present, too. How the filmmaker weaves all this together makes for a spectacularly dense and slowly revealing conclusion that will have you feeling and understanding the viewpoint of every character present.

This is major filmmaking, and if Farhadi were to walk away with another Oscar, I would not be surprised. (His film is among the five nominees in the BFLF category). The Salesman forces you to re-consider your priorities: what you would finally allow or not allow, and how much damage you might be willing to inflict on another in order to satisfy your own sense of justice and/or need for revenge.

From Amazon Studios and the Cohen Media Group, in Persian with English subtitles and running a long but never boring 125 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, January 27, in New York City at the Angelika Film Center and the Lincoln Plaza Cinema, and in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Royal. Here in South Florida, it opens February 10 at the Tower Theater, Miami; the Movies of Delray and Lake Worth, and at the Regal Shadowood and Living Room Theaters in Boca Raton. To see the many playdates all across the country, with cities and theaters listed, simply click here and scroll down.

DVDebut: writer/director Rustam Branaman's AA- and Jesus-loving melodrama, ANY DAY

ANY DAY could as easily have been called Any Movie, for all the meaning encased in its pointless title. It is, in a word, mediocre in almost every way. The story -- of a drunken boxer who kills a man in the first scene, goes to prison, and then spends the rest of the movie trying to rise above his reputation -- is mostly by the numbers. As written by Rustam Branaman (he also directed), characterization is minimal: Everything occurs for plot effectiveness rather than deepening our sense of who these people are. The dialog ranges from wooden to adequate, and by the time of the finale, you'll swear the movie is really a commercial for either Christianity or Alcoholics Anonymous (maybe both). Only the acting by a game and well-chosen cast saves the film from a humdrum snooze-fest.

The film's star, Sean Bean (above and below), is shown in just about every one of the movie's scenes. It's his story and his picture. But as good as Bean often is, he can't save this tale because he's been given far too little to work with and so comes across as an actor waiting for his character to coalesce.  (Sometimes you could swear you see him grasping at the straws the screenplay provides, hoping for something more specific on which to hang his motivation and performance.)

As his angry but loving sister, Kate Walsh is as effective as this actress is allowed to be, but it is Nolan Gross, as her young son, who pretty much steals the movie. Gross has got the "Jesus" role (he's uber-loving, strong, centered, and sacrificial), and as written, it's pretty silly. But the young actor rises to the challenge surprisingly well. Love interest is provided by a sensible Eva Longoria (above, right), while the "best pal" role goes to the always-fine Tom Arnold (below, left), as a guy who manages the local pizza shop and gives our hero much-needed employment.

That's about it. If the cast entices, take a chance. You could do worse and undoubtedly have, many times previous. From Anchor Bay Emtertainment and running 99 minutes, Any Day hits the street this coming Tuesday, August 4, for purchase or rental.

Blu-ray/DVDebut: the Teplitzky/Boyce/Paterson adaptation of Eric Lomax's THE RAILWAY MAN

"The Japanese: such a cruel race." That line from the film version of Bridget Jones' Diary, spoken by Gemma Jones with utter panache and impeccable breeding, immediately entered my pantheon of hilarious movie moments. The line came to mind again, for very different reasons, during my viewing of THE RAILWAY MAN, the screen adaptation of Eric Lomax's popular book about his own experiences in WWII, directed by Jonathan Teplitzky from a screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson. What a story here unfolds: the war, specifically the war in the Pacific, together with the imprisonment, torture and killing inflicted by the Japanese on, in this case, some young and not-so-young men in the British military.

Not having read the book, I can only comment on the quite lovely-to-look-at movie that has resulted, featuring fine performances from the always exceptional Colin Firth and the almost always good Nicole Kidman, and excellent ones, too, from Stellan Skarsgård and, as the fellow who pays the younger version of Firth, the well-chosen Jeremy Irvine. As directed by Mr. Teplitzky (shown at right, who directed 2011's interesting Burning Man), the film begins very well, as it moves back and forth in time from WWII to several decades later, during which the post-traumatic stress endured by the characters played by Firth and Skarsgård becomes nearly unendurable.

The film works so well in its initial stages, as Lomax and his wife-to-be (above) meet, fall in love and marry, and we learn of the dreadful things that happened to the younger character and his comrades (below) in the war, that the movie builds beautifully a real head of steam that eventually takes us to a place where we begin to understand why some ex-soldiers can never talk about what they went through in wartime, for fear of complete collapse into horror and madness.

The movie eventually reaches the point that we've been waiting for, in which Lomax has the opportunity to meet again, after all these decades, the Japanese man who helped instigate and facilitate his torture. What will happen -- retribution, reconciliation, redemption?

These three "re" words are quite popular with moviemakers these days, and for good reason. Two of them provide the kind of feel-good experience many audiences dearly love, while the third -- retribution -- offers the vengeance other audiences crave. (Often it's the same audience: We can love revenge and forgiveness, too!)

The Railway Man appears to be offering all three of these pleasures, but it pulls its punches on each. Without giving away spoilers, I'll just say that, for me, the movie simply withered, the closer it came to its final resting place. It begins to plod, just when it needs to soar.

This is because the filmmaker has not found the specific filmic vocabulary for reconciliation and redemption. He's filled his film with great natural beauty, but this isn't enough. He and his screenwriters have not given the actors the specifics required via dialog and visuals to make the huge but necessary leap required.

We understand what is happening, all right, but it's all too easy and obvious. The depth of feeling, of experience, of understanding, is still missing. Which is too bad because there is still much to love about The Railway Man, which is worth a watch if you'll just tamp down those expectations. Unless, of course, you are one of those for whom redemption and "redumbtion" are a little too closely related.

Meanwhile, you can see the movie, running 116 minutes, in a sterling Blu-ray transfer or on DVD this coming Tuesday, August 12, when its hits the street via TWC and Anchor Bay Entertainment.