Santouri

I watched this movie recently, it was truly one of the best Persian movies I ever watched. I like the way it shows young loves, when you are young and deeply in love and you will do crazy things and these all are just fine, but nothing good last forever and when hard situations comes and it seems like nobody believes in you and what you do in your life, you just doubt yourself and by that you will lose everything.

this movie shows how things can get hard when you are young and immature and you've got different ideas, interests and goals than others. how things can get hard when there's nobody to support you but love of your life. but if you don't do carefully you can lose her/him too.

plus this actually shows Iran Society and young Iranian people's problems. such a shame to say there are a lot of people like Ali in Iran, losing all they got and dying in loneliness.

From PASTO, COLOMBIA-Via: L. A. CA; CALI, COLOMBIA+ORLANDO, FL

Hanieh has reached the breaking point. She feels her drug addict musician husband, Ali, has become the anchor that is drowning her in a vortex of despair..."Do you think I want this?" She shrieks despondently..."I want to be FREE!" Yes, Hanieh, you and 34 million other Iranian women! Sometimes it takes a foreign gem like this one to underscore just how lucky we are here in the U. S. A.; where we can rent, view, enjoy and discuss this film with impunity. No secret police bursting down our door at 3 in the morning...No Siree!

Irony of ironies: Owning "Santoori" on DVD, or showing it, is very serious offense in Iran. Worse now, I would imagine in light of the recent police state crackdown: "Only a terrorist agent of the Great Satan would possess this propaganda!" Of course, Santoori is many things ...Subversive is not one of them! The film is a cinematic ode to Iranian music, and how sweet, lyrical and hypnotic it is! The Santour is a traditional Persian instrument. (BTW, on Wikipedia and every place else, the spelling is SANTOURI: THE MUSIC MAN...IMDb: What's Up With the Alternate Spelling?) Santouri means both player of the Santour and music man, hence, the film's title.

There is a definite dark side. Ali's pronounced slide into the most abysmal rock bottom imaginable. True, there have been numerable movies that have dealt with a musician's addiction(s), but watching a story unfold in Farsi(Persian), undeniably puts a fresh spin on this topic! Goldshifteh Farahani(Hanieh) is quite the gifted actress, displaying a versatility of range and the most fluid and natural of deliveries I have seen in any Iranian actor to date!

There is one scene, as a newlywed, where she seems to exude joy on a cellular level! Unfortunately, Santouri does have one inescapable shortcoming: The subtitles are, at times, practically impossible to follow. There are a few scenes in the film where you might want to back-skip and play at 1/2 speed to read them methodically! So outstanding, this film, that I'm planning to add it to my DVD collection. 9* dropped to 8* because of the rushed subtitles.

....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA!

With Santoori, the famed Iranian director, Dariush Mehrjui has achieved the rare distinction of having had films banned in Iran both before and after the 1979 revolution (Dayereh Mina, AKA The Cycle and Santoori respectively). Both films share similar traits in that they try to show some aspects of the Iranian society that authorities would rather keep hidden: drug addiction and corruption in The Cycle and drug addiction and treatment of musicians in Iran in Santoori.

Ali Santoori is a musician (playing the Persian instrument Santoor), disowned by his wealthy family for having chosen music as a career, refused a license by the authorities to record and reduced to playing at private parties to earn a living. These hardships have forced him to drug addiction and affected Ali's relationship with his wife. Along the way, the movie makes strong statements about the life of the young, and specially artists and musicians, in Iran.

Santoori has all the usual Mehrjui hallmarks: strong characterization, rich and naturalistic dialogue and lack of stereotypes, even in the minor characters. This is best demonstrated in a scene where Ali visits his parents.

Santoori presents the juiciest role for a lead actor in Mehrjui films since Hamoon. Bahram Radan has risen to the occasion and gives an award worthy performance. He is well matched by Golshifteh Farahani as his suffering wife. Casting, as in all Mehrjui films, is near perfect. Another notable plus is the music and the songs which perfectly fit the scenes.

Despite being born and raised in Iran till age 12, I hate watching Iranian movies. However, The Music Man, is by far among one of my all time favorite movies both for the great story and flawless analysis on the messed up society in Iran. Don't get me wrong, I do not hate the government or anyone who is in power. I hate how people are taking advantage of the weak and unorganized rules. P.S. The sound tracks used are AMAZING.

I enjoy watching Iranian movies 🎦 and they have talented Directors.

This story is sadly realistic, depicting the many damages caused to society by dictatorships and in this case ignorant Islamist government.

Revolution is coming to Iran. Today we see Iran's youth being slaughtered and persecuted by their own leaders! We are 2023, this is unacceptable. Nothing changed since the 1970s, in fact things went downhill and took a turn for the worst. The people have spoken : enough is enough. A change is near. Winds are shifting for the mullahs - and NOT in their favor. Time.

Give this movie a try.