Baran (Sub)

Starring:Hossein Abedini, Zahra Bahrami, Mohammad Amir Naji, Hossein Mahjoub, Abbas Rahimi, Gholam Ali Bakhshi, Jafar Tawakoli, Yadollah Hedayati, Parviz Larijani, Mahmoud Behraznia, Pasha Barabadi, Kamal Parto, Maghsood Moghadan, Peiman Daraian, Mohammadollah Dad, Asghar Ghanbari, Hamid Houshman, Khalil Rahmani, Ezzatollah Bayati, Sanaz Mirfakhari
Director: Majid Majidi
Studio: Miramax
Product Type: DVD

Description

Winner for Best Film at the Montreal Film Festival, this wonderfully romantic and uplifting story is from the acclaimed director of the Academy Award(R) nominee CHILDREN OF HEAVEN (Best Foreign Language Film, 1999). In a Tehran building site, a 17-year-old Iranian named Lateef is known more for his playful antics than his hard work. Then things take an unexpected turn when an Afghan coworker falls from the building and the worker's son, Rahmat, enters the scene to become the new provider for his family. But even as Lateef finds himself irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, it's not until the revelation of Rahmat's secret (that he is actually a young woman, posing as a man) that both of their lives are forever changed! A humorous and moving love story of the most romantic kind -- critics everywhere have declared this delightfully entertaining motion picture as one not to be missed!

Customer Reviews:

a beautiful, nostalgic, helpless and sad love story.......2007-03-25

this film is like a sad and melancholy poem, a well-woven persian tapestry. the human heart would never stop to seek love, no matter how helpless it might turn out. and one thing is never wrong: only love can change one man's way of thinking and the complete different way to look at things.

a masterpiece of subtlety!.......2006-12-17

This is a superbly nuanced film and it gives me
an idea, albeit sad, on the inhibitions imposed by
the muslim culture: you cannot express your feelings
of love openly. It's one highly recommended!

Iranian Love Story.......2006-09-15

This is a low-key but affecting story about a young man learning to love.

Seventeen-year-old Latif works at a construction site for a friend of his father. He's all hormones and bumptiousness, quick to laugh, and quick to pick fights with the older workers who toss jibes at him. Many of his co-workers are Afghani immigrants who have left their war-torn country looking for a better life. Latif is in charge of the kitchen, preparing meals and serving tea to the workers. When one of the Afghani workers falls out a window and breaks his ankle, he sends his son Rahmat to take his place, since the family desperately needs the money. This boy isn't strong enough for heavy labor, so the foreman puts him in the kitchen in place of Latif.

Enraged, Latif loses no opportunity to torment Rahmat, until the day he sees the lad furtively combing out his long, black hair and realizes Rahmat is a girl, a beautiful one at that. Latif goes from bitter to smitten, and takes to protecting Rahmat from the other workers. He even risks jail to keep her from being picked up by the Immigration officers. When the foreman is forced to lay off the Afghani workers, Latif's new love disappears back into her country neighborhood. Latif uses all his spare time to find her, and all his money to help her dirt-poor family. Through all of this, he never actually talks to Rahmat, or spends any time with her. Loving her though, transforms him from a callow youth into a compassionate, even noble, young man.

Baran presents a type of love we in western societies don't usually experience. Latif's behavior towards Rahmat is fervent, self-sacrificing, and abstract. The idea of his love for her seems to drive him more than the prospect of actually interacting with her. Part of this is surely cultural. At the movie's end, just when it seems that they're about to talk, she throws a buhrka over her head and turns away to her father's truck. Latif is left with a hair pin she dropped and the image of her footprint in the mud, soon washed away by heavy rains. You can imagine how this intense, abstract emotion could be transformed in young men into a willingness to die for the abstract idea of a perpetual afterlife.

Hossein Abedini gives an energetic but emotionally shaded performance as Latif. Actress Zahra Bahrami doesn't speak one word for the entire movie, but conveys all of Rahmat's feelings and yearnings through her lustrous black eyes. Director Magid Majidi does a great job conveying the dust and sweat of hard labor - there's a particularly wrenching scene where Rahmat and other women find work lifting heavy boulders out of a cold stream. Without romanticizing, he also shows us the bonds that form among poor working men.

I've also seen Majidi's film Children of Heaven, about a brother and sister in a poor neighborhood in Tehran, and would recommend it highly.

Change of heart . . ........2006-08-20

This is a gently heartbreaking film set in Tehran, a city flooded with Afghan refugees during the time of Taliban rule in their homeland. It touches on several themes, including the plight of the refugees, and those of them who work illegally as laborers in the construction industry. Much of the story takes place at a construction site, where the central character, a young Iranian, a short-tempered lad full of complaints about his lowly status among the other workmen, gradually discovers within himself a heartfelt compassion for the refugees in the person of a girl masquerading as a boy to support the family of her disabled father, injured at the work site.

The young man's compassion is ignited by the love he begins to feel for this girl, and there begins a series of selfless sacrifices that he makes for her and her family. Though they never exchange a word in the film, she leaves a deep impression on him, and he is utterly changed by his experience. A story that is about the transformation of character, the film sometimes struggles to externalize this process, often observing the main character as he watches from the sidelines, wordlessly ponders his situation, or goes in search of the girl and her family. Director Magid Magidi compensates in part by revealing the working conditions of the men, the difficulties of the contractor in charge of them, and the unforgiving weather (snow, rain, cold) in which they all labor. Recommended for the window it opens into a world rarely revealed by the cinema or the news media.

a quiet film that deals with suffering, love and sacrifice.......2006-06-13

Baran is a beautiful film that, oddly enough, primarily takes place at a construction site in Iran. The plot is simple and sweet; the characters are well-developed; the cinematography is often stunning ... Baran has all the makings of a great film, and it is, indeed, very enjoyable.

There were 2 things that I especially liked about this movie. First of all, Baran is the first Iranian film I've seen, and I was grateful for a glimpse into a culture that I know very little about. I thought Majid Majidi - the director's - portrait of Iranian and Afghan-refugee workers was at once lovely and painful. Specifically, it is somewhat difficult to view the conditions that the characters live and work in - and yet - the film in no way asks for sympathy. It is simply telling a story, and the characters happen to work low-paying, back-breaking jobs. That is their reality. Also worth noting, the entire movie does not take place at a dirty, grimy job-site. The main character, a teenager named Latif, leaves on several excursions. These scenes are especially beautiful. Even if this film lacked plot and characters (which it, thankfully, does not), I would have to give it some credit for the aesthetic quality of these scenes.

The second thing that I especially liked about this movie was the way it was able to make a very innocent and restrained gesture seem provocative. There is a footprint in the mud toward the end of the movie that is - somehow - an evocation of sexual and emotional longing. There is another scene, during which a male and a female pick up a basket of food that has spilled, and though their hands never touch, it is one of the most erotic cinematic moments I think I've ever witnessed.

Worth noting - Baran moves rather slowly. I wouldn't say it's boring, but it's certainly languid. There also seem to be a few problems with the flow of scenes. I could be wrong, but occasionally, I found myself disoriented when it would cut abruptly from one moment to the next. But this is really a trivial observation. Overall, Baran is a very nice film. If not profound, it's at least quietly beautiful.

Average customer rating:

The dark side of Tehran
Overworked mother burdened by family and work.

Under the Skin of the City
Starring: Golab Adineh , Mohammad Reza Forutan , Baran Kosari , Ebrahin Sheibani , and Mohsen Ghazi Moradi
Director: Rakhshan Bani Etemad
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Our Times
The May Lady
Crimson Gold
The Fifth Reaction
Leila

ASIN: B00015YV36
Release Date: 2004-03-16

Description

Tuba, a mother of four, is a hard-working factory worker who is faced with unexpected challenges that threaten her family and way of life. Her oldest son, Abbas works to obtain a foreign work visa, which he hopes will allow him the opportunity to provide more for his family, and win the affections of a pretty office girl. To make his final payment, he sells the family home, but when his travel plans fall apart, Tuba is forced to take drastic measures to save her house and her son. Widely regarded as the "First Lady of Iranian Cinema," Rakhshan Bani-Etemad's first U.S. release is a stirring and powerful family drama that provides a fresh and provocative vision of Iranian urban society.

Customer Reviews:

The dark side of Tehran.......2007-02-07

The real life of a big city depicted in a way the Iranian censorship did not like too much. In this genre, the real masterpiece remains definitely "Dayareh" (The Circle) by Jafar Panahi.

Overworked mother burdened by family and work........2004-06-09

After working long hours in a Tehran textile factory, Mrs. Tuba negotiates the lives of her troubled children, her reclusive husband, and an abused neighbor. Her children have various problems including skipping school, attending political demonstrations, staying in an abusive marriage, and constantly spending money on presents and expensive dinners. Much attention is focused on Abbas, the eldest child, who is trying desperately trying to obtain a Japanese visa to earn enough money to enable his elder mother to stop working. In between his work assignments Abbas admires an office worker and showers her with attention and gifts.

Description

Voted one of the "Top 10 Comics" by Backstage Magazine in 2004, Michele Balan is a brash, New York stand-up comedian, and for the past 12 years has performed on Comedy Central, as well as in top comedy clubs, theaters, festivals and on cruises all over the country.

Her career has taken her to top comedy clubs from The Improv in Los Angeles to the infamous Friar's Club in New York City, and from the Montreal "Just for Laughs Festival" to the "Dinah Shore Women's Weekend."

Often told she was naturally funny, the Brooklyn native left a high-paying executive position at a computer company to pursue comedy -- even though comedy has never proved as lucrative -- and has been performing ever since.

Customer Reviews:

Not bad, not great.......2004-12-26

An updated attempt at noir--what used to be called neo-noir, a term that has essentially evaporated--Lansdown is not exactly a bad film. The plotting itself is solid. The soundtrack is evocative. The acting is somewhat spotty, but mostly works. But the script is not what it should be, and that's the major fault here. This does not have the punch of better modern noir, even the semi-obscure indie type (e.g., Cement, Thursday, Killing Time, Trouble Bound) because the stakes are not raised high enough.

We have a put upon husband, a lawyer who thinks he's hot s**t (the viewer is led to believe that all lawyers think this way, since we see inside his office where he smarms around with his partner and intern, both of whom exude smarm as well). The husband's wife is enjoying herself with a younger guy, so there's the setup. The problem is, as mentioned before, the stakes. The wife, finally found out, whines like a high school girl that their marriage just doesn't work anymore. One of the major problems is that her character is so poorly developed that it's completely impossible to believe that her husband would be so possessive of her that he does what he does in this movie, which is some pretty intense stuff. We don't get enough of the lawyer's personality either--specifically a background in rage--to justify what happens in the course of the film. And the lawyer is the key character here, along with his wife. When the characters of the two leads are so poorly developed, the violence that ensues is completely unfounded.

Other characters are, in fact, more interesting. Humor is used, and quite well; there's some genuinely funny stuff and effective laughs. But with the two central characters not being as convincing (not because of the actors' abilities or lack thereof, but because of the script) as they should be, the story is really half-hearted noir.

This could have been a much punchier piece of work if the filmmaker, Tom Zuber, had invested Jake and his wife, his main characters, with more depth. As it is, the film takes more pleasure in the side characters than it does in the main ones which leaves the viewer dissatisfied.

Too bad.

Great Character Study.......2003-07-17

Very interesting and exciting take on "Tarantino-esque" flicks. This new film, by an up and coming production team, will draw in the viewer from the start. Several of the actors stand out for their intense and hilarious performances. This one is surely for "filmers", and not for the whole family, but if you are looking for something original and off-beat, check this flick out...

Wonderful Story, Terrific Actors.......2003-05-21

Never have I seen such a spectacular movie where the plot is so well written and the actors are so into the parts that they are playing. I especially liked Christopher Baran who played Hector in this movie. He definitely is an up and coming star and will make it very big in this business. He stole the movie bringing a comedic relief every now and then at the exact moments that the picture had needed it while at the same time bringing drama to his character where it should have been. Expect to see this actor in years to come. I give this movie a 9. It would have been a 10 if Christopher Baran had more screen time and top billing.

Excellent Film.......2003-03-28

Unbelivable production! First time wirter/director Tom Zuber does a fine job pulling this dark comdey together. Stay tuned for "Little Athens," which will begin shooting in late spring. Little Athens is a multi-storied comedy about a day in the lives of an ensemble of Gen Ys. Co-written by Jeff Zuber and Tom Zuber, and to be directed by Tom Zuber, the movie will boast the hottest collection of Generation Ys yet assembled in a single motion picture.

Average customer rating:

Satire of direct cinema
A note about the existing Fox Lorber transfer
NAVEL-GAZING QUESTIONED!
What "Get Smart" is to James Bond this is to the Maysles
Masterpiece of film about film

David Holzman's Diary [Region 2]
Starring: L.M. Kit Carson , Eileen Dietz , Lorenzo Mans , Louise Levine , and Fern McBride
Director: Jim McBride
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000AWKSYG

Amazon.com

Inducted into the prestigious United States National Film Registry in 1991, David Holzman's Diary is a hilarious and well-aimed satire of the cinéma vérité filmmakers of the 1960s. So naturalistic it fooled many an expert, Diary pretends to be the actual, day-to-day life of young filmmaker David Holzman. Holzman plans to film himself and his acquaintances in order to present a documentary about the common man, if the common man were an annoying film-school student whose girlfriend is getting fed up with being surreptitiously photographed, whose draft board is after him, and who is constantly assailed and assaulted on the streets of New York. Completely self-deprecating and ceaselessly entertaining, this is a rare example of self-conscious filmmaking that never takes itself seriously, but never condescends in its humor. --James DiGiovanna

Customer Reviews:

Satire of direct cinema.......2007-04-15

In the sixties Jean-Luc Godard claimed that film was truth 24 frames a second. So David Holzman endevours to see it's true by filming himself to establish some truth about his life. `David Holzman's Diary' is essentially a subtle psuedo-documentary or mockumentary exploring what can be regarded as truth in an emerging media-made reality. It's easy to believe that what we are seeing is real but in reality is scripted and acted and directed. What director Jim McBride (who worked as a news cameraman) is doing is satirizing Godard's theory along with whole direct cinema movement which included D. A. Penebaker (Don't Look Back,1967) and the Sayles brothers (Salesman, 1968). A similar film worth checking out also is Haskell Wexler `Medium Cool' (1969) which takes a greater behind the camera look at the issue blurring line between reality and fiction.

`David Holzman's Diary' is a great film and well worth watching. The Second Run DVD come with an interview of Jim McBride as well as his short film `My Girlfriend's Wedding'(1969)

A note about the existing Fox Lorber transfer.......2005-10-07

While the quality of the NTSC VHS tape is very good, there is one major flaw in the Fox Lorber version of this film: the transfer is missing the last five minutes of the full version.

The Fox Lorber transfer ends with David Holzman being forced to confront his ex-girlfriend Penny, after being caught by a policeman filming Penny through her window from the street. The last words on the the Fox Lorber transfer are: " ...Penny said forget it." These words are said over black.

It's as if the person in charge of the transfer got bored or impatient at this point because this is where this transfer ends. The film should go on to show Holzman having his film equipment stolen, ending with a series of photo booth shots.

This film is an important film and deserves better treatment than this. Fox Lorber please redress this problem and retrieve the existing faulty transfers. I look forward to a time when we can see a complete version of this film.

NAVEL-GAZING QUESTIONED!.......2003-12-29

In this brilliantly conceived and executed film, the director accomplishes satirization of the elements of cinema verite (direct cinema), and does so in such a fashion as to supply a lot of laughs.

Brought into question are the concepts of a person being filmed when said person was not aware that a film of said person was going to be shot (as if, as we are supposed to suppose, in direct cinema, that the camera is not noticed by the subject(s)). And, the concept of the unscripted material being able to convey "a message" is also fodder for the satire.

Also, some shots are truly art- the long pan of elderly and down-and-outers strung along a park pench, in synchro to audio of the U.N. roll being called, and the "every different shot as it appeared in a night of TV-viewing" sequence, and a street-alcoholic being harassed by cops while audio of news of fighting (with heavy U.S. losses) in Vietnam plays.

As essential to understanding the genre (because the fun it pokes relates to the elements of the genre) as is the Maysles' "Salesman".

What "Get Smart" is to James Bond this is to the Maysles.......2003-12-15

brothers. I felt like the Boston Strangler was operating the camera as the "verite" subjects were inside of their own homes and being shot through windows, from the street, in the final segment. It has occured to me that being a "verite" subject could easily rub a person the wrong way. And other parts of this movie- such as splices of all different images to have appeared on TV during the course of an evening (in 1967- so not only is it an amazing experience, visually, to grok this- it also is a nostalgia trip). And the continuous pan- if that's the correct tech term- of people relaxing on park benches not only satirizes "verite" but also could be real "verite" in that I felt that something about the human condition was conveyed.

Masterpiece of film about film.......2001-03-09

This film is NOT a poorly shot diary film by a guy named David Holzman, as some other reviewer implies. It's a CONSTRUCTION, a work of art, a film about film, with L.M.Kit Carson (who was involved in the writing of PARIS TEXAS and has done other stuff, though, sorry, man, I forget what) PORTRAYING the starving artist obsessed by the need to document his life. The film is so realistic, as a sort of mock-verite, that even I, on first viewing it on latenight TV some years ago, not being familiar with the work, thought it was really a diary film, though it's a little too coherent in it's concern for the role of the artist -- too thematically unified -- for one to remain convinced of this for long. Still, the fact that people DO get fooled is a testament to the film's realism. The director, Jim McBride, went on from this astonishingly intelligent little movie to make what I think of as "forgettable Hollywood schlock" like THE BIG EASY. Despite this, serious film buffs -- in both the sense of people who like serious films, and people who are serious buffs -- should check this out.

Destiny Turns on the Radio [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]

Average customer rating:

Great acting and a great story!

Destiny Turns on the Radio [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]
Director: Jack Baran
Manufacturer: Reel
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000KKWH7Y

Product Description

Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Subtitles), SYNOPSIS: In this quirky drama, Julian Goddard is stranded in the desert and dying of thirst when suddenly Johnny Destiny drives up and gives him a ride to the ramshackle Marilyn Motel near Las Vegas. There they meet the owner, Harry Thoreau, with whom Julian attempted to rob a bank three years before. It is revealed that Julian is an escaped convict who has returned to get his share of the take and reclaim his former girlfriend Lucille, who is working as a lounge singer at her boyfriend's casino. While Julian endeavors to realize his goal, Destiny frequently appears to guide him and the others along their proper paths. SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu,

Customer Reviews:

Great acting and a great story!.......2007-01-31

All the characters are SO believable and this is such a fun film to watch everyone and their problems. Jim Belushi also plays a casino manager and his role, like everyone else's, is just getting thru life the best he can. The ending is rather sci-fi, and that may be a slight annoyance to those who want everything to end in a pat, black-and-white sort of way. I absolutely loved the ending; it was very fitting. I have waited YEARS for this to be released on DVD in the US...and I'm still waiting. Fortunately, I bought it on Laser Disc (remember those!) when it was first released. (Locale note: although set in Las Vegas, some of the locations are in the San Fernando Valley in California...same place(s) where Pulp Fiction was also filmed). Won't give away which locales are in the SFV, because it is fun to believe it is all in Vegas and I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

Average customer rating:

HELSTAR: BURNING ALIVE (PAL DVD)
Director: Bernhard Baran
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000FGDL1O

Product Description

THIS TITLE IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN PAL FORMAT!!! You must have an all regions DVD player. DON'T HAVE AN ALL-REGION DVD PLAYER, NO PROBLEM, THIS DVD WILL PLAY IN YOUR DVD-ROM COMPUTER DRIVE!!! Recorded in Germany in 2001, this first official live DVD documents an incredibly tight and expertly performed return from this very special Texas band led by vocalist James Rivera also of Distant Thunder and Seven Witches. This set sees Helstar blazing through classics from all of their well regarded 80s albums. This DVD was only released in the PAL format, you must have an all regions DVD player. (PAL REGION 0 DVD------ TRACKLIST: 1) Evil Reign 2) Winds Of War 3) Baptized In Blood 4) King Is Dead 5) Draculas Castle 6) Run With The Pack 7) The Benediction 8) Shadows Of Iga

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