The birth of the Master. The strong debut of the young Iranian director, now a block of world cinema.
A slightly uncouth young man named Nazar meets a Persian beauty named Reyhana on public transport in Tehran. This is love at first sight, but there is no money for the wedding - our young man is poor. In order to get married, he has to get a loan. So, the finances are there, the wedding is off. But the world, as they say, is not without kind people - rumors have spread that the mother of Reyhana leads an extremely unjust lifestyle. Scandal! Nazar’s parents and friends are demanding an urgent divorce, and in a fabulous eastern country, a divorce must be paid. But how to pay compensation if the marriage loan is not paid? In addition, for this, there is a prison term! And Nazar runs secretly from the city to the desert in a trash car with a half-mad old serpent-catcher. After all, they say that one snake can get up to fifty fogs.
Easily and at ease, starting with a traditional short prayer, Farhadi tells us a vivid and fascinating story. With the skillful hand of a capable director, building ideal shots and mise-en-scene in a Chinese way, he leads us through the desert to the achingly brilliant codes... The tape can be divided into two unequal timekeeping parts. In the first Farhadi introduces us to the environment and life of the newlyweds, in the second - with the desert ordeals of Nazar and bursts of memories dear to his heart.
There are many piercing, skillfully played and filmed scenes: the purchase of wedding rings, divorce proceedings in court, the first and only conversation of a young man with an old man in the heart ... At the very beginning, in the window of the bus, where the heroes met, a monument to some local George the Victorious, crushing a snake will flash. This will be a sign of fate, a hint of further development of relations. However, for happy lovers at that time, it will only be an element of a long-bored and no longer noticeable cityscape.
The film may seem raw and not as stunning as the later works of the author, but to watch how the style of a recognized filmmaker was born and developed, which eventually became Corporate, is certainly interesting.
At the beginning of the review (by negligence?) was the name of the famous Japanese director. Indeed, just as Takeshi Kitano once brought freshness to Japanese cinema, Asghar Farhadi replaced the representatives of the old “new wave” (Mahmalbaf, Kiarostami), the first film to declare itself. In addition, mutually possessing a unique manner of directing, Farhadi and Kitano share editing and silence in the development of the plot, such wandering fragments of information.
For some, Raghs dar ghobar will recall the early work of Emir Kusturica. But unlike the eccentric "Yugoslav" Asghar Farhadi - the singer is not weddings, but divorces, hence the presence in his picture sometimes bitter humor. Instead of Balkan lawlessness, there will be Persian suffering. Instead of a flying veil, a severed ring finger... You can’t get rid of the poison of love.
10 out of 10