AminGhanbari's Reviews

A Hero (I) (2021)

10/10

30 October 2021

When we discuss on movies by Asghar Farahdi we do expect to see some character swings in the screenplay and this is not an exceptional movie in this respect. However, we encounter with a more experienced director which has now become more skilled in using this technique as the other aspects of the characters result in making these swings more believable. This is exactly what he lacked in previous movies of himself except some parts in A Separation andA Beautiful City. This movie has it all; from romance to comedy; comedy to drama, drama to tragedy. The same with his previous movies, we see so many symbols available in the movie. The city of Pars, Shiraz may trigger the ancient Iranian culture of less lies and more love which has been surrounded by darkness of the social network and probably the current era difficulties which makes this movie a critical one while illustrating all we could have already heard in theory regarding bad impacts of social media on people lives. Farhadi is now capable of designing his path to the main message he has there in his mind. He speaks frankly with less metaphors compared to his previous movies and we do understand what his challenges are with the morality issues existing not only in Shiraz, Iran but also in the today's world. Characters in the movie are neither bad nor good; they are all humans and are free to challenge themselves with the lives' difficulties. Farhadi wants to anecdote his story in a way that let us think how our decisions and somehow acts might be praised or criticized by the society; the same with all heroes since the very beginning of this world who had enemies and friends, people with and people against themselves at the same time.

I believe this has been one of the most geometrical original screenplays ever written. It would be wonderful not to see this among the final Oscars contenders; it has it all.

Farhadi also has another time convinced the cinema fans that he is a director to remember. I can not avoid mentioning the performance of Amir Jadidi among the best ones in 2021. His Shirazi accent, the way he talks to us through his eyes and the way he pictures what he has thoroughly understood from his role in the movie. It would be hard to avoid Farhadi's ability in directing his play and if you add the other cast performances including the newcomer Sahar Goldoust as Farkhonde and Mohsen Tanabandeh as the debtor, we see excellent performances by the cast thank to their own capability and a good way of directing by Farhadi. All the other aspects also prove my word as we can experience the exact timing for original score to play, the exact angles for the cameras and the exact colors for the scene which makes Farhadi's performance a one to remember, a one to praise.

I believe this movie is one of the best movies in the world of cinema and I recommend this to be watched by anyone who would like to learn something through joy of cinema.

It is obviously Farhadi's best since A separation and is a certain contender for the Academy Awards this year.

Amin Ghanbari- 30 October 2021.

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The Post (2017)

8/10

Who seeks the truth, always wins!

10 February 2018

The Post was more than a normal movie directed by the amazing Steven Spielberg, proves how talented this man is in creating what no one even thinks of its success possibility for a second. Great way of putting pieces together and forming a whole, results in an unforgettable masterpiece from a brilliant story! The Post is not only a great movie but also a brave one from different aspects. The screenplay is the one makes it possible to be discussed in various fields. Identifiable characters, acceptable dialogues, understandable plot and the good one to encourage those who are interested to get involved in the story, for more involvement! That is what I call it a great way to anecdote an abnormal story as a routine, fantastic and memorable one. In some points the movie turns to be drama, with a slight piece of romance, while mostly acts like a fabulous drama/ thriller, outcome of which is a great form of cinematography and breathtaking editing. The cast performance is beyond expectations, though nothing else could be expected from the legendaries Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. John Williams's music is charming and in points you need to feel the fear, stress, joy, love, etc. his music is gonna be a good fellow for you. Through this movie you will find out what the exact position of the media is, and that is what I consider it as reason to say, this movie has been made properly, indicates what the writer and or director has had inside his mind. A good one to watch, one of the most successful movies of the year! The Post by Steven Spielberg!

Written by: Amin Ghanbari

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The Salesman (2016)

10/10

-How do people turn to cows? -When they forget who they really are!

30 October 2016

Warning: Spoilers

There is no one to be judged except us, who are now watching the movie in around the world and in different countries with different cultures. As you see, no wall is seen between the rooms in the "Death of a salesman" play by Arthur Miller. The director, clearly states how good it would be, if you try to think about the least s in your life as they're the reason for most of the problems you may be encountered with. You as the watcher feel no wall around the personal life of Rana and Emad as there is no in Arthur Miller's, "Death of a salesman". Even the camera tries to convince you how to find your way, while in most of the vital situations of the movie, it makes you to think by having a look at those Hitchcock's brilliantly used elements in a form of close up. Like Farhadi's previous movies we are going to see a vast of classes in a society; How they act when they face with a problem and how good or bad they are at understanding the situation. The movie starts with a medium close up of Linda and Willy Luman's bed, continues through the first scene which is the problem they have with their flat and ends up with another close up of those meaningful cracks on the window and the bulldozer which ruins the house next door in order to make a new one. Farhadi considers the flat as the society, cracks as a result of forgetting morality and bulldozer as a symbol of forgetting plumbs. Rana feels no love for Emad and so does Emad. We understand this when we see their bed, the way they act, the way Emad most of the times argues with Rana and etc. Even when Rana prepares their bed before taking a shower, the way she throws Emad's pillow on the bed, proves this. They want to give their relation another chance by having a baby as it seems from Emad's joke while he is talking to Babak on their first visit of their new place. However, in the dinner scene, Sadra, who is a 4 or 5-year-old boy, shows that having a baby is not a key to their success in saving their relation as, Emad even forget to consider her wife's feelings and doesn't consider her kind behavior and efforts on preparing such a simple but lovely supper and just follow on his own traditional thoughts with regard to the problem they both are challenging with. Farhadi shows how bad it would be if you judge someone without experiencing the situation the people are in by showing the scene in which Emad is checking Ahoo's answering machine, reaches to the Ahoo's daughter's message which shows how responsible her mom is and what a beautiful love is between them just like a normal mom and daughter in a normal family or by showing the child's painting on the wall, shows a daughter with two moms on her right side, proves she likes her mom who has just become a slut because of her terrible situation. After the rape scene, Rana has become depressed not because of that event but because of this fact that she chooses to have her husband's attention by misusing her condition. Emad also has started a journey to corruption while he chooses revenge as a way to show her wife that he is still in love with her. He forgets everything and doesn't consider that he has gradually turned to a cow just to save his wife. In Saedi's story which we see during the high school scene we have the same segment in which the farmer has turned to a cow just because of the love he feels toward his cow. Emad misuses of his situation and ruins his life while, Rana acts like a bulldozer and ruins their love by her misunderstanding from the word, Love. Willy has also done the same thing with his child, Biff while, he tells him lie, forget morality and sticks on finding another way to solve the problem rather than telling him the truth about his unlawful relation with that slut in his room's bathroom. The movie reminds us that forgetting morality is the worst possible thing when it shows an old experienced man who has done such a bizarre act with Rana. You may ask yourself how it could be possible for an old man like him to do something like that and escape that fast but in my opinion it was a taunt by Farhadi shows even Rana and Emads' neighbors have forgotten their ethics while they didn't help Rana in time and by telling lies to Emad want to define themselves as folk heroes. Those bloody footprints close to each other, proves my word that the intruder had the required time to escape and no one has even tried to stop him on his way. The neighbors by not being committed to their responsibilities toward Rana and Emad have also made the situation worse. They also have forgotten their moralities. Farhadi reminds us how bad it would be if we forget morality, start judging others and forget ourselves. "The Salesman", proves that we all may gradually turn to cows if we forget who we really are!

Faithfully yours,

Amin Ghanbari

October 30, 2016

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The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

8/10

We call it LOVE

8 July 2015

Imagining a day without love has become impossible since I watched this movie. No matter which kind of love we focus on, what really matters is this that an antidote to all poisons and a key for all doors has been summarized into 4 words; LOVE.

It was a year ago when I started reading John Green's novel, "The Fault In Our Stars". I found out from the first pages that at least one guy could finally find a new way to anecdote a romance story and do believe in this fact that this guy could make a revolution in this genre. Actually, as a person who usually writes about different subjects, I had never ever thought about this kind of relationship. A relationship between two teenagers whom both suffer from cancer and in a way are strange. Not only the idea of this story is something pure but also the words which writer's used to communicate better with readers are among the best ones. anyway, accept my apology because we are here not for the book's review but because of the movie's one.

Like all the reviews I have here on IMDb, screenplay is the first item in which I'm interested to talk to you about it. As you know when you want to make a movie out of a successful novel or story which has acclaimed critical praises without any pictures, you have a hard job to do not only because of this fact that you are not able to change everything you want but also because of this fact that maybe changing words affects reader's mind. Here the writers could've done their job in its best way. Just follow these four simple steps and then you will find out why I'm telling you this. 1-Open The Book 2-Read It 3-Watch The Movie 4-Review The Book , and you feel that you've seen all the things you expected without any deficiencies. That's exactly the reason I know this title as an important movie. Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have done their best.

About the casts, I searched, but couldn't find anyone better than Shailene Woodley as Hazel and Ansel Elgort as Gus. We've seen them before in the Divergent but here they show how good they are. Two things would be enough to prove their abilities; The way Ansel Elgort tries to communicate with all audiences and his co star by his body language and without any dialogue and sometimes just by staring into Hazel's eyes which shows that he has overwhelmed by his role and his character and the way Hazel tries to convince you she is in love with Gus. So, they've done their job perfectly. Actually, I've become one of their fans since I watched this movie and their amazing collaboration with each other.

As a conclusion, I prefer to write about the best scene of the movie, based on my own opinion. I think the scene that Gus asked Hazel to write him a funeral speech and asked her to read it in front of him, while he was alive and was there in his own funeral ceremony, was the best scene. The way they became sad, the way they became happy by reviewing their memories and etc. all together would be enough to convince you how memorable this scene is.

I think if you are interested in romance movies you should watch this movie. Believe me! it's a good one.

Best Regards,

Amin Ghanbari

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Boyhood (I) (2014)

10/10

When Impossible Becomes Possible

22 February 2015

It will be sometimes that we need to change our point of view to the things that happen around us.Sometimes it can be easy to do this work but unfortunately we think that It will be hard.Among all of the people all over the world there are guys who made this impossible thoughts,possible.Richard Linklater is one of these persons. When he decided to start his project with an unfamiliar name,'Boyhood',it was hard even for his project's casts to think about the success of the project,because the idea on his mind was to make a film over12 years which was a hard decision because it could be terminated by each kind of unwanted accidents,but Linklater did this work and showed another time that everything can be possible if you want to do something.

Boyhood is a normal drama movie which is at first seems to be like a documentary but the way of narrating its story which is one of the strangest kinds of narrating on nowadays movies makes this movie a kind of masterpiece;its strange because we don't want to face a story of a normal movie, we want to watch a movie which is related to the life of a young boy from childhood to adolescence.Its hard!but Linklater did this job perfectly.Lets see the time when the story wants to show us the difference made by time in the relationship between a mom and her children,lets look at the scene of the movie when the writer wants to show us that he knows exactly what are the problems and what are the sensations of the boys not only in the time they are only10years old but also in the time they are18years.Absolutely,in my opinion the turning point of the story is the time that the director and also a writer of this movie put the half length time of the movie to the time when the mom marry for the second time after her separation.Look at the incomparable way of mentioning all of the problems that this kind of children will be face with.Look at the time when the children must see their real father on holidays and the way of their connection with their dad and also look at so many other things that happen on this period of the story.Absolutely boyhood, based on its subject, tells a story and its better to say show us a kind of story which can teach us many things and also the story can help us to experience something that we may have never experienced or can remind us our delightful moments of our childhood or adolescence.

About the casts performances there will be no word remains ;An outstanding performance by Patricia Arquette ,An acceptable and memorable way of playing by Ethan Hawke and also the other good performances by the other casts from the grandmother to the Mindy ;their performances and the relaxed way of playing they have, can suggest you that all the things happen in the movie, is real and this is exactly what that was placed on the mind of the writer ,so another time what I said on the previous lines can be use as a proof for the nice method the writer has used to tell the story and makes it believable.

Editing of this movie is a kind of achievement too.putting parts together, the parts which are filmed on 12years,choosing the best possible way of editing for this movie helps this title seems completely believable and also memorable piece of art of cinema ,this is not a job can be done by a normal editor and because of this in my opinion Sandra Adair,the editor of this flick, is one of the cinema's most genius editors.

After all of these reasons I mentioned(and I haven't forgotten to talk about the director,I have said nothing because I think when I told you about his courage of making this film and also the way he has written the screenplay I mentioned his ability and if I intend to tell something about the way he directed this movie my review would become inefficient)Boyhood is one of the movies which soon mention everywhere as one of the biggest projects of the cinema's history .believe it or not it's a masterpiece and for those who insists on their belief that this movie is just a different boring drama movie I suggest them to watch it again and again and they will understand this fact ;and don't forget that the budget of making this movie is only 4000000dollars!and among the blockbusters and stylish movies of these days ,it should have something new to be mentioned as one of the year's best movies .

Thank you all for reading my review ;I wish it became useful to all of you.

Sincerely Yours,

Amin Ghanbari

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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

8/10

A Key To Middle earth

27 August 2014

From the day that I read this news on IMDb which mentioned "The Hobbit" as a trilogy, I had this question in my mind that whether it's a right job to do or not. Its unbelievable but, what which was just a question for me, used by critics as a tool to start arguing with producers of this flick. They all had this opinion that decision made by producers regarding to breaking "Hobbit" into three parts was just and only because of the predictable financial profit which had been expected.

In my opinion, making such movies, needs a great talent and also requires an experienced team behind the camera. You need to get accustomed with all the characters who have been mentioned in context of the book and you need to be much more talented in finding appropriate ones, to convince everyone they are exactly those whom all the audiences expected to be! Choosing Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins can be mentioned as a success. Great job done by cinematographer and fantastic jobs which have been made by sound editors and mixers of the movie all at the same time can be used to evaluate the actual value of this movie. Like most of the trilogies, "The Desolation of Smaug",the second episode of the series, is the best of it, better than "An Unexpected journey" because of more action scenes it has and better than "Battle of the five armies", because of the unity its screenplay has and surely, higher technical level in both visual effects and sound mixing which made this movie, a good sequel for its main title, "The Lord of The Rings".

As a conclusion, despite of all the problems that you may mention, each as a deficiency for this title, based on what which has been mentioned above, I do believe in this fact that second episode of this challenging trilogy has that special something and proves how talented Jackson is in collecting the required data from available sources of Tolkien masterpieces. I myself enjoyed watching this movie and do recommend you to watch it.

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