Superstar

This is more of a warning than a review so I'll keep it spoiler free.

This movie is the equivalent of an American TV movie in everything, from production to writing.

Some background: I've seen/discovered some excellent Iranian films and it made me look for more. This film has Shahab Hosseini who played in A Separation, The Salesman and About Elly so I thought this film was in that vein. I was wrong.

It's not good. The production is fine, but don't expect anything cinematic. It's more TV movie quality, which is a step (or a few steps) below TV series and films.

The story is really mediocre with all kinds of weak writing. Without spoiling anything, this film uses the "I have something to tell you" "Tell me" "I'll tell you." (Phone rings) "Forget about it" type scenes more than once.

This is a low-budget for-the-money film made for the Iranian domestic market. It does not compete with the more famous Iranian films. It's no mystery that this did not get international distribution and as far as I can tell, there has not been a DVD pressing of this film that's being sold abroad.

5/10.

The movie, in general, is indeed beautiful and I personally enjoyed Shahab Hosseini's performance. He's truly a talented actor.

However, the movie lacks originality since it's an EXACT copy of the movie "The Game Plan" made in 2007, starring Dwayne Johnson. Aside from its having the same story line, you can easily notice that the creators of the movie copied even the house's interior design, especially the black and white portrait picture that the leading roles have of themselves on their walls on the both movies. As a matter of fact, it's a shame that the creators imagine that they could possibly trick the general audience by making such mistakes. After all, these facts shouldn't change any audience that gets to watch this movie first.

Superstar is a further confirmation (after Ceasefire) that the talented Iranian female director, Tahmineh Milani, has abandoned making serious socio-political feminist films such as Two Women and Hidden Half in favour of commercial mainstream films. Superstar is far closer to the Iranian commercial films of pre-revolution Iran, such as King of Hearts (recently remade as Ice Flower) than Hidden Half or Two Women.

The Superstar of the title is a self-centered, obnoxious actor whose fame and fortune has blinded him to the needs of other people around him. He abandons his lovers after short affairs and treats everybody, including the director of his latest film (a delicious cameo by Sharifinia) with contempt. All this however changes when a teenage girl, who claims to be his daughter from an old affair, enters his life. From here on the movie follows a predictable path as the star begins to see his flaws and the girl becomes his guiding angel.

Shahab Hosseini is fine in the title role but the film is way beneath someone of Milani's caliber. However, with the enormous success of Ceasefire and now Superstar, it is very doubtful whether we will see more serious and thought provoking films from this gifted director.