Pig

Mani Haghighi is an Iranian director that I was unfamiliar with until this film. I hope to see more of his other movies after experiencing this vastly entertaining piece of sick humor about social climbing and status in the country of Iran. The set up is pretty simple and intriguing. Hasan Kasmai is a director of films in Iran, but he has run a fowl of the government censorship  rules and is basically barred from working in film for an unspecified period of time. While he is making due with commercial shoots and keeping up with the film community in the culture world, other Iranian film directors are being murdered by a serial killer, who has the unmitigated Gaul to ignore Hasan.

It might seem that serial murder and laughter are not complimentary companions, Haghighi as screenwriter, director and early victim, manages to argue persuasively that they do. Hasan is a close friend of the first victim we see and is asked to identify the body, correction, not the body, just the head. A moment from a Farelly Brother's movie follows. It is painful, hysterical and gruesome all at once. Hasan is the central figure and his displacement in the community is heightened by the fact that everyone else in the community seems to be a target except him.

Some moments of grisly farce are interspersed with fantasy dream sequences as Hasan goes from being neglected potential victim to social media star suspect. His interviews with investigating officials don't seem to lead anywhere except into a deeper hole. His aged mother has some dementia issues but at times she comes across as his strongest defender and the one who makes the most sense in the story. The other women in his life are breaking his heart or stalking him. We can't really tell if one is a red herring or a black widow.

The character of the director who is lost emotionally and professionally is still pretty sympathetic. With his hangdog face and moribund demeanor he seems like a sad sack case but one that manages to be a provocative outsider. In every scene he appears in  Hasan wears a metal band tee shirt, including two Kiss shirts featuring the image of Gene Simmons. This was not something I expected to see in an Iranian movie but it clearly made an impression on me. Two other items that made a deep impression are the pesticide commercial he is directing and the music video he creates in his head as he is held in solitary confinement for a period.

The absurd story plays out with a great deal of violence and ridiculous imagery, which was all entertaining as hell. I'm sure Howard might have his own thoughts to write about but he told me this was the best thing he saw at the AFI Fest, and I could easily believe it. I can hardly wait for a blu-ray release. 

Lemonade

So I had an opportunity to meet up with a Fellow member of the Lamb at the AFI Fest yesterday. Howard Casner and I are the two senior sheep in the flock so to speak. Most of the other lambs are half our ages. We were talking on a podcast a few weeks ago and he mentioned he would be attending the AFI Fest in Hollywood. Since Monday was a school holiday, I was able to accept his offer of a couple of tickets to screenings at the festival. We greeted each other and had a nice conversation at McDonalds before getting in line for the first of the two films.

"Lemonade" is a Romanian production filmed in the U.S. and featuring actress Mãlina Manovici. She plays Mara, an immigrant who has married an American that she took care of at a convalescent hospital. She is seeking a green card and has arranged for her son to join her in the States. This is a stark tale of immigrant struggles against bureaucracy,  culture clash and toxic male  hegemony. It is a well told story but bleak for a number of reasons.

It is easy to appreciate the desire to locate to the U.S. when your economic opportunities are limited. Mara seems to have lucked out by connecting with a kind man who seems to care for her and is trying to cope with some medical issues at the same time. There are a number of hoops she must jump through as a result of the marriage. The Immigration agent investigating her case asks pointed questions of her and it's not long before some shocking unpleasantness rears its ugly head. The main issue I had with the film concerns the way in which the difficulties start stacking up. In addition to potential and real exploitation, she is swept up in a child neglect case, her husband is not very understanding about the abuse that has been directed at her, and the strategy her lawyer recommends is full of danger and potential humiliation.

Manovici is suitably hopeful and naive as she confronts a pretty dark vision of America. The emotional scenes are handled well and she is appropriately defiant and cowed in a long conversation in an automobile. As loathsome as this encounter is, another one is coming up that will make you equally sick. As is typical in the American system, justice cannot be had simply because a rule or law has been broken. Her attorney sums it up well when he explains that victims get the benefit of the doubt and the system protects them more than it punishes the guilty. There is a little bit of convoluted hope at the end of the story and the aphorism that gives the movie it's title is revealed.