aka TALAYE SORGH
Movie Review by EDF
Starring: Hossain Emadeddin, Kamyar Sheissi, Azita Rayeji, Shahram Vaziri
Director: Jafar Panahi
What should have been a routine jewellery robbery turns into a bungled effort. The two-man job, one driver and one to frighten the shop manager and steal the jewels sounds easy in theory, that is if you are a professional. These two wannabe professionals obviously did not take the time to plan the robbery out properly. So when a customer walks in on the robbery, events take a turn for the worst and we witness one of the robbers taking his own life.
This Iranian movie jumps back to a point in time where Ali (Kamyar Sheisi) finds a purse in the street and shows the contents to Hussein (Hossain Emadeddin), his future brother-in-law. Among the contents is a receipt for an expensive piece of jewellery. Ali and Hussein make an attempt to enter the jewellery shop but are not allowed to enter the shop due to their scruffy appearance. Hussein works as a pizza delivery person where one night during a routine deliver, Hussein comes across a police stakeout and they prevent him from making a delivery. The police operation is to round up those who are leaving an illegally held party.
In preparation for the heist, Hussein and Ali drags Ali’s sister to the jewellery store to scope it out by pretending to buy jewellery for their forthcoming wedding. Trying to make her future husband happy, The Bride (Azita Rayeji) realises that Hussein does not have the money to buy the expensive jewellery on show. When she tries to show him some affection, Hussein ignores her.
The constant hustle and bustle of the streets and everyone rushing around is in vast contrast to Hussein who seems to sleepwalk his way through life. All of this seems to add to a sense of claustrophobia that the character seems to be experiencing. Due to this, the movie’s pace is as slow as Hussein’s reactions to the world. With the knowledge of how things will turn out for Hussein, the movie seemingly tries to make an excuse for Hussein’s actions but this is barely enough to even make the movie engaging or suspenseful.
