World Cinema Feature

Cinema Iran
World Cinema's best kept secret?

Most Iranian films are so completely untainted by any Hollywood-style influence that whichever country you live in, watching these gems is a truly unique, refreshing and humbling experience.
The core of Iranian contemporary cinema emits an instantly warming and uncontrived message. You are looking into a world, where the humanity of the characters - whether kind or uncaring - reach the viewer with an air of earthy, non-pretence. Iranian cinema shows how the main core of ordinary middle-eastern culture is not made up entirely of hordes of shrieking zealots, as often depicted by western media.
Captivating by its pure, endearing simplicity, Iranian cinema radiates a strong element of social clarity - trust and friendship. This is often achieved through the meeting of minds in normal, everyday activity (usually using non-actors), rather than held together through a specifically scripted plot ... giving a neorealist feel similar to early Italian cinema.
In fact, the thought of any intrusion by westernized storylines or technological flourishment, such as computerized effects, high-wire camera panning and speed-editing, would seem like a repulsive embellishment. As an example, "20 Fingers", the 2004 Venice Film Festival prize winner by the acclaimed director Mania Akbari, has no edits at all in each of the seven segements of her film, and yet the movie is perfectly paced beacause it's the conversation and emotion which foremost captivates the viewer.
However, some of these movies actually intersect with clever cross-links between one production and another, or films within films, giving a slightly surreal flavour.
Iranian filmmakers often frame their shots beautifully, with the intention of letting character interaction and even everyday background kinetics tell the story. With this in mind, the works of Samira Makhmalbaf (see choice directors page) and Abbas Kiarostami are worth exploring.
Many Iranian movies (such as "20 Fingers") are refused permission from being shown in Iran itself. However it's refreshing to find that Iranian women play a fairly equal share as role of director. This allows for a refreshing and compassionate perspective, subtlety detached (without provocation) from the religiously driven, male dominated hierarchy inside the country itself. It's a shame that Iran's authorities don't recognize the issues of Iranian women and perhaps give consideration to the respectfuly poised questions of freedom of expression raised in the currently banned films. These are usually universally realized issues for women of any race or creed and pose no threat of introducing any socially destructive elements into the natural progression of Iranian society - quite the opposite in fact.
Overall, such poignant and sensitive film making has never seemed so natural and this is Iran's golden age of cinema ... perhaps for a long time to come. Sheer brilliance.

Just some titles to look out for are:

• The White Balloon (Badkonake Sefid)
  dir. Abbas Kiarostami
• Through The Olive Trees (Zire Darakhatan Zeyton)
  dir.Abbas Kiarostami
• 20 Fingers
  dir. Mania Akbari
• The Apple (Sib)
  dir. Samira Makhmalbaf
  (see Cult Digital Top Choice)
• Where is My Friend's House? (Where is The Friend's Home / Khane-ye Doust Kodjast?)
  dir. Abbas Kiarostami
• The Circle (Dayereh)
  dir. Jafar Panahi
• A Moment Of Innocence (Nun va Goldoon)
  dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
• Leila
  dir. Dariush Mehrjui
  

Find these titles and more (where available) via the Iranian directors links here:

Samira Makhmalbaf
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Mania Akbari (coming soon)
Amazon USA
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Abbas Kiarostami
Amazon USA
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Jafar Panahi
Amazon USA
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Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Amazon USA
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Dariush Mehrjui
Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Amazon Canada

Jocelyn Pook

Although she has not been specifically categorized, as a soundtrack composer in the past, Jocelyn Pook's simple, beautiful and haunting music has featured in many major movies over the last decade such as Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut".
Her soundtrack for the 2004 movie "The Merchant of Venice" won her huge acclaim and has firmly established her as a leading movie composer for the 21st Century.
Jocelyn Pook's contemporary / classical style is achieved through an intelligent use of sampling, intuitive, flowing song structures and often accompanied by a liquid-sounding voice; a tonal montage that produces a perfect balance of drama and melancholy, both light and shade. There is genuine musical emotion derived through her works and highly recommended by Cult Digital.

General Albums by Jocelyn Pook
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"Merchant of Venice" Soundtrack by Jocelyn Pook
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Amazon Canada

Florian Fricke (Popol Vuh)

Florian Fricke (1944-2001) was the genius behind the mythical German band Popul Vuh, providing music for Werner Hertzog's films, including “Aguirre, Wrath of God”, “Nosferatu The Vampyre”, “Cobra Verde” and “Fitzcarraldo”. Composer, Fricke was a master of dark, dreamy, visionary music; using analogue synthesizers in a textured, humanized style along with traditional wind and percussive instruments.
Popul Vuh presented a totally unique approach to soundtrack music, which ultimately created an often eerie and vivid soundscape to Hertzog's equally original cinematic masterpieces. A Looking-Glass Cult Digital favourite.

Soundtracks by Florian Fricke (Popol Vuh)
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Yann Tiersen
Rue Des Cascades
+ Amelie

Rue Des Cascades isn't specifically a film soundtrack album but a wonderful collection of compositions by the composer of "Amelie" and "Goodbye Lenin". The title track 'Rue Des Cascades' was the end music to the Cannes Film Festival award winning "Dream Life of Angels".

Rue Des Cascades
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2001 A Space Odyssey ... soundtrack

Director Stanley Kubrick's landmark film has been around since 1968, but its soundtrack still remains one of the most unique and groundbreaking music scores since the birth of cinema. Apart from the Strauss's now famous "Also Sprach Zarathustra" etc, popularized by this movie, the rest of the film's incidental music by György Ligeti is truly mind-blowing ... whether hearing it as part of the movie or on its own.The dream-to-nightmare drones and choral passages will transport you to worlds and universes beyond your wildest imagination ... and remember, this music was created live ... no synths and years before the invention of samplers.

2001 Soundtrack
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Landmarks of Early Film Volumes One and Two

Volume One archives nearly every important film from the beginning of early cinematography. This includes Edison Kinestoscope films (1894-96), films by the brothers Lumière (1895-97) and the magical movies of French special effects pioneer Georges Méliès.

Volume Two covers George Melies in more detail. Melies was the pioneer of film special effects many years before the term was coined. Audiences of the new medium of cinema were witnessing spectacular film illusions that seemed like pure magic to them but what we now realise as simple film and theatrical trickery.
Apart from 15 of his films included in Vol Two, there is also a documentary "Georges Melies: Cinema Magician". His most famous film "A Trip to The Moon" can be found on Volume One of this collection.

The two volumes together make up almost four hours, providing a fascinating study of the pioneering days of cinema.

Note: Only Available through Amazon USA & Canada (Region 1 DVD)

USA
Landmarks of Early Film Vol. One
Landmarks of Early Film Vol.Two

CANADA
Landmarks of Early Film Vol. One
Landmarks of Early Film Vol.Two

Double Five Star Recommendations
(Region 1 + 2)

Turned off by subtitles on great foreign films?

Then why not learn the language?

Linguaphone
Languages Made Easy

World Television Feature

Heimat
Tired of 'dumbing-down TV'? ...

There is no doubt that writer and director Edgar Reitz's "Heimat" trilogy surmounts to the most important contribution ever to world film and television drama. Heimat has been twenty five years in the making, since production began around 1980. The three parts combined sum up to fifty four hours, telling the compelling story of five generations of the Simon family, based in the fictitious German village of Schabbach.
The story begins in 1919 at the end of World War One, and continues through the rise and fall of the Third Reich, the political and social issues of the 1960's, the fall of the Berlin Wall and finally concludes with the millennium.
Heimat was finally completed in 2004, and is hailed as the finest television drama / arthouse epic ever made. From both inside Germany and throughout the world, this series has changed peoples lives; who reflect on the emotions of love, loss, and humanity so wonderfully portrayed in this carefully paced, beautifully photographed and highly absorbing drama.
The three Heimat DVD sets are impeccably presented in book-style bindings - and collectively offer a superb library addition for any connoisseur of long-standing, quality drama.

Heimat 1
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Heimat 2
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Heimat 3
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Dead Like Me

Finally, a TV series that was set to cheer up the millions who had still been suffering cold-turkey since the end of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer".
"Dead Like Me" oozes subtle deadpan humour, great character profiles and a consistently strong script.
With flavours of "Buffy", "Six Feet Under", "Donnie Darko" and even elements of modern British comedy thrown in for good measure, this truly unusual series has it all.
The lead character 'George' is played by the gifted Ellen Muth, who as well as projecting a rather extraordinarily offbeat acting talent is also a member of Mensa. In fact, Muth's father has an entire museum named after him.
Supported by a music score courtesy of Stewart Copeland, "Dead Like Me" is destined to become a high-pedigree cult classic...
HOWEVER ... Showtime, the TV network who produced Dead Like Me, cancelled it in early 2005 after only its second series leaving a growing base of fans on the edge of their seat in anticipation for season three's revelations. Showtime have completely misjudged a global audience trend by axing a show that, through word of mouth, continues to grow into a world-wide cult TV phenomena. To give just one example of the many thousands of comments about Dead Like Me, here's an extract from a well-worded comment by "phil-525" via IMDB: "The chemistry of characters with this cast is more than exceptional. The ability to give such realism to such an absurd story premise is bewildering and you find yourself taken for a ride down this fairytale as if it were real life. This is perhaps the best program that no one has ever heard of yet and I wouldn't be surprised if it rose to one of the best series of this decade when the show becomes better known to the public."
(For more info Google "Fans Raise Hell With Showtime Over 'Dead Like Me' Cancellation")

Dead Like Me
Amazon USA
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Best Screen Adaptations of Alice

Lightly brushing the genre of 60's psychedelia, the 1966 BBC production by Jonathan Miller still remains one of two of the most original, mind-stretching adaptations of Lewis Carroll's book ... The other being Jan Svankmajer’s ‘Alice’ (Neco z Alenky) from 1988 - an outstanding, if not slightly gruesome part-animated version of the logical versus the illogical.
If you are more comfortable with the Disney's reworking of Carroll's surreal masterpiece, then Miller's or Swankmajer's eerie / dreamlike visions of wonderland may not be for you.
Both these DVD's are highly recommended by Looking-Glass Cult Digital.

Jonathan Miller's Alice in Wonderland
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Jan Svankmajer’s Alice
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Threads
Cult Digital Top Choice

Made for British television in 1984, this grim and highly plausible docudrama depicts the impact and aftermath of a nuclear war.
Even 22 or so years later, "Threads" remains frighteningly pertinent and will send a shocking message of fear and realization about the finite consequences of a nuclear holocaust ... that is to anyone brave enough to watch this.

Threads
Amazon UK (Region 2) only

Samira Makhmalbaf

Tehran born Samira Makhmalbaf entered the stage of World Cinema in 1998 when at the age of seventeen made the highly acclaimed "Sib" ("The Apple") a story about twin Iranian girls kept inside their home for 12 years. She followed this up with her second film "Takhté Siah" ("Blackboards"), which won a prize at Cannes. Her segment in the multi-directed "11'09''01 - September" was hailed as a work which projected an intellectually inspiring sensitivity in such volatile times.
Samira comes from a family of equally talented and acclaimed movie makers. Her father Mohsen Makhmalbaf is a major Iranian film director and her younger sister Hana, is the youngest person (when she was just 8 years old) to compete at a major film festival (Locarno) with her first film.
Expect to see more truly outstanding cinematic works from the Makhmalbaf family.

Films directed by Samira Makhmalbaf
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Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Cult Digital Top Choice

Mostly recognized for his recent outstanding movies "Amelie" (Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain) and a "A Very Long Engagement" (Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles) the meticulous Jean Pierre Jeunet has been making films since 1978. It was the rather grotesque "Delicatessen" in 1991 that brought Jeunet wider recognition, which led him to direct the fourth in the "Alien" series in 1997. Jeunet is a perfectionist in every detail - costumes and sets (even on location) are painstakingly manicured and enhanced to emit the exact hues of colour and light needed to create the required mood or visual dynamic. No DVD collection would be complete without Jeunet's most recent masterworks.

Films directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
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