Gharibeh Va Meh

Just saw this at the National Museum of Asian Art's Iranian Film Festival in Washington. I learned a lot about how the film's symbolism fits within Iranian mythology and indigenous history from the sophisticated review in "Senses of Cinema" (link on IMDB). But it was also a really good movie!

The plot has some of the same elements of the Shogun story-the mysterious but charismatic stranger who washes up on the shore of a rather feudal society and proceeds to inject modernism, fear of the unknown, disruption of norms, and a certain idolatry into the village. The setting reminds one of some of the great Japanese depictions of feudal society such as Kenji Mizaguchi's "Ugetsu" (1953) and Kaneto Shindo's "Onibaba" (1964), both of which Beyzaie would have likely seen. Both of those films also share the subplot depiction of assertive women, like Rana in this film, who managed to attain real influence despite their decreed subordinate status.

The staging of the town's rituals and the fight scene were masterful and the cinematographers' milky depiction of the foggy seaside weather cast a foreboding shroud over the village's fortunes, while also making Rana-the only one who wore bright colors-stand out even more.

I'm now eager to see Beyzaie's other films. It took courage for him to make this non-conformist film after the Iranian revolution. Eventually he had to leave Iran and I am glad to see he is still teaching at Stanford at the age of 86.