2 August 2024.
By Neptune
SHAYDA ***1/2 (vo Persian and English)
Long ago Mark Twain wrote “Truth is stranger than fiction”. He was right, for everyone’s truth has been lived and felt deeply. To convey that truth into a fictional entity often creates a more moving and authentic work.
This is what Iranian/Australian, writer/director Noora Niasari has done with her own story as a six year-old those many years ago. In the film, the mother Shayda and little Mona have arrived in Australia and have found shelter in a home for abused women after they fled Iran and Shayda’s domineering husband, from whom she wants a divorce. The director has woven beautiful moments into the obvious fear and anguish of their situation, especially when the father shows up. She has spun the joyous times and customs of the Persian New Year in between the frightful occasions when Shayda has to confront her husband – a graceful balance melding a tender tale and a thriller.
And then there are the other women in the shelter, each with their own traumatic stories, yet somehow united in their sorrows and rare bursts of exuberance.
Zar Amir-Ebrahimi as Shayda (fresh from Best Actress award at Cannes), and Selina Zahednia as little Mona, are simply superb.
The film was executive-produced by Cate Blanchett, chosen as Australia’s entry for the 2024 Oscars, won numerous awards in Australia, and two awards at Sundance 2023, including the Audience Prize. Director Niasari has said her film is a personal love letter to all mothers and daughters who endure and surmount their difficulties.
MOTHER’S INSTINCT **
Now this one, also about mothers, is the opposite of the above – fictional and feeling unfortunately very fabricated.
In the 1960s, two neighbours in an upscale suburb are best friends with seemingly perfect lives. They share much of their days, have young sons that are also best friends and classmates in school, and loving husbands. But a tragic accident turns their lives upside down, as well as their relationship.
The film now turns into a psychological thriller which slowly comes unraveled due to an exaggerated, melodramatic script – a bit of a Hitchcockian wannabe. It’s a waste of talent of two fine, Oscar-winning actresses, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain, and some convincing 1960s mood and details. Can’t win them all.
LARGO WINCH 3 – le prix de l’argent *1/2 (French and English)
I was really impressed with the early Largo Winch films, well-adapted from a Belgian comic book series. The films felt like a hipper, more fun James Bond, where the hero never fails, despite incredible odds against him. Tomer Sisley, the Israeli/French actor playing Winch, was a fresh new addition to the burgeoning roster of cool action heroes.
But this latest one about Winch, a wealthy (reluctant) head of a global conglomerate (that’s how he gets around so many glamorous locations), is a non-stop mess of chases that don’t really count for much. This time around he’s trying to find his kidnapped son, while his financial empire is being sabotaged. The various characters around our hero overact embarrassingly, the violence is nonstop, while Winch is beginning to look like a copy of Beep Beep the Roadrunner. James Franco as the latest villain can’t save it either. Pity.
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
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