MOURNING

Directed by Morteza Farshbaf

Discoveries / Iran / 2011 / Art, Drama / 85 mins / Farsi with English subtitles / Video

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MOURNING

UltraStar Mission Valley
November 4, 2012 4:25 pm

Description

New Currents Award and FIPRESCI Prize, 2011 Busan International Film Festival

MOURNING opens in darkness while a married couple violently argues as they storm off into the night, leaving their young son with his aunt and uncle who are both deaf. The deaf couple (who have underlying issues of their own) decide to drive the boy back to his parents in Tehran. Along the way, they encounter a tragedy which they attempt to conceal from the boy. What the couple fails to realize, however, is that the boy is keenly self-aware of his surrounding landscapes (both environmental and social) and has things to conceal of his own.

The film too is extraordinarily perceptive to landscapes, and the ways faces, hands, and even subtitles create worlds of emotional meaning. A meditation on communication, disability and grief, MOURNING is a surprisingly masterful film from such a young filmmaker (born in 1986). With a child protagonist, gorgeous shots of the Iranian countryside, and a narrative that unfolds inside a car, the influence of Abbas Kiarostami is unmistakable. It should surprise no one then that first-time feature director Morteza Farshbaf conceived MOURNING through one of the legendary director’s workshops. And although some have called the film “Kiarostami Lite,” imitation or not, Farshbaf’s ability to create a gentle, poignant, and playful film of this stature is an amazing achievement by any standards. –Joseph Mangat

Mourning is co-presented by the Global Film Initiative and is part of the Global Lens 2012 film series. For more information, visit www.globalfilm.org.