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Cannes 2023 :: Killers of the Flower Moon :: Martin Scorsese’s Bitterest Crime Epic Martin Scorsese triumphs yet again. A story about greed, corruption, and the mottled soul of a country that was born from the belief that it belonged to anyone callous enough to take it.. |
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Berlinale 2023 :: Full Winners List This year’s jury, headed by Kristen Stewart, gave
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BAFTA 2023 :: ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’
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Berlinale 2023 :: Golshifteh Farahani :: Talks Role Of
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SIFF 2023 :: Shirin Ebadi :: Until We Are Free
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IFFR 2023 Awards :: 'Le spectre de Boko Haram' and
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Winners of the 2022 ‘Sepanta Awards’ :: 15th Annual
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festival presented 50 films from Iran, USA, Italy, France, Luxembourg, Greece, UK, Canada,
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Opinion :: Will Venice Protests Help or Hurt filmmakers
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Biennale Cinema 2022 :: Awards Ceremony
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Coming: 15th Annual Iranian Film Festival! : San
Francisco: Sep. 17-18 This year, the
festival presents 50 films from Iran, USA, Italy, France, Luxembourg, Greece, UK, Canada,
Australia, and Denmark…, ranging from fiction, documentary, short, animation…. to the
music video. We are happy and proud to.. |
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Film Review: Suddenly A Tree Personal narratives run deep at Persian Film Festival
Naomi Gall, theaureview.com December 9, 2019
The moments are so delicate in this movie you that you almost need to see it twice to fully appreciate their significance.
This year’s (2019) festival is dedicated to women. More than fifty percent of the films screening in the festival were made by women and more than half have a female protagonist.
In its 8th year, the Persian Film Festival was officially opened by Festival Director Amin Palangi, who gave one of the most engaging and genuine opening night addresses I’ve ever heard.
He touched on the current conflict in Iran and the very real impact it had on the festival, given all the films were physically in Iran.
Then, as if it were a movie itself, a friend of a friend’s parents were able to smuggle the films out of the country in their suitcase. In a sense, this was the perfect backstory to the festival.
This year’s festival is dedicated to women. More than fifty percent of the films screening in the festival were made by women and more than half have a female protagonist. Uniquely, these women are not presented as victims of their circumstances, instead omitting strength and resilience.
Suddenly A Tree, directed by Safi Yazdanian, is set during the Iran – Iraq War. Farhad (Payman Moaadi) is arrested and imprisoned after trying to migrate illegally with his partner, in what proves to be one of the funniest scenes in the film. Years later, after he is freed, he reunites with his love Mahtab (Mahnaz Afshar) and they begin to form a life together. Through conversations with his psychiatrist and interrogations with the police, we are given an insight into Farhad’s life, from the time he was a young boy trying to get out of going to school, to an adult trying to grapple with the realities of whether to abort a pregnancy.
Farhad’s connection to and relationships with women are interwoven throughout the entire film – his mother, his love, his friends young daughter – and the significance of these relationships in shaping his journey. He recounts with vivid clarity his first love from primary school, Suzanne, and how she had the ability to appear interesting and mysterious in a sea of similarity. He recalls his mother’s hands, their nurturing ability as they removed a thermometer from his mouth, and as he held his hand in hers. This emphasis on touch cascades throughout with subtle inferences.

At school Farhad was a soccer goalie and it was while trying to impress Suzanne that he lost a tooth – this would become a running joke throughout the film, with Mahtab years later asking the dentist how much it would cost for a new tooth, as she wanted to give it to him as a present. There are subtle and beautifully depicted cultural nuances throughout and repeated visual gestures connecting Farhad’s childhood memories to his adult recollections. These moments are so delicate you almost need to see the film twice to fully appreciate their significance.
The end of Suddenly A Tree took me by complete surprise and because I desire the same experience for you, I will not reveal it here. What I will reveal is that this film was beautiful and personal, presenting an honest narrative which will leave you intrinsically connected to the characters in a way that is deeply satisfying.
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