BOMB, A LOVE STORY
At UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema

By Bijan Tehrani, Cinema Without Borders
on 04/23/2019 Festivals, Videos

'Bomb, a Love Story' is about love and war, or better to say, how cruelty of war helps blossoming of a love.

'Bomb, a Love Story' will be screened on May 10, 2019 – 7:30 pm at  Billy Wilder Theater as part of UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema.

The story of 'Bomb, a Love Story' happens during the Tehran bombardments during Iran/Iraq war and creates the atmosphere and mood of the city on those dark and unforgettable days quite faithfully.

 

Iraj (Payman Maadi) and Mitra (Leila Hatami) are a couple that have troubled relationship. Iraj is bothered by the fact that his wife, before their marriage has been in start of a romantic relationship with Iraj’s brother, now a war martyr. The couple don’t talk to each other, and never seek safety during the air raids, but the reason of these problem are never revealed for the audience.

Parallel to Iraj and Mitra story, we are introduced to Saeed, a teenage boy and his family that live in the same apartment building, where Iraj and Mitra live and Saeed goes to the school where Iraj is assistant principal.



During one of the air raids, when Saeed and his family, join other tenants in building’s cellar, Saeed falls in love with Samaneh, a teenage girl. As the building’s cellar is the only place Saeed could meet Samane, he prays for more air raids and loves the war! This teenagers’ love story lifts the film to a more entertaining level.

I believe if there was more focus on this part of the film and the teenagers life at school, Bomb, a Love Story, could have come close to be another Cinema Paradiso.

Payman Maadi by writing and directing the Bomb, a Love Story, takes big step forward in using language of cinema comparing to his first film The Snow on the Pines. Maadi shows an admirable skill in creating a nostalgic atmosphere of the war time and blending humor, horror and romance together. The major shortcoming of the film is in its main character developments. We never get to know who really Iraj and Mitra are, there is no depth to them and this problem effects Payman Maadi and Leila Hatami performances.

The music by Eléni Karaïndrou is amazing and the magnificent Mahmoud Kalari‘s cinematography helps to create the world of the film beautifully .