Reza Kianian Movies
- 2008
Her daughter missing and her elderly mother slowly slipping from reality, a young mother sets out in search of her child and the truth she has never known in this drama from director Manijeh Hekmat. Minou is a weave and professional rug maker who often becomes so wrapped up in her craft that she neglects her relationship with her ageing mother and young daughter. One day, Minou's daughter Pegah wanders away from the house with no particular destination in mind. As Minous sets out in search of the missing girl, her mother too takes a rare trip outdoors - only to forget her way back home. Now, as Pegah drifts into a remote region of Iran and meets with another young wanderer who is just as lost as she, Minou's desperate search for her two missing family members becomes a transformative journey that gives her a newfound appreciation for the loved ones she once took for granted. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Niki Karimi, Pegah Ahangarani, (more)
- 2007
The documentary Persian Carpet features contributions from fifteen different Iranian directors who each present a true story about the making of or the importance of the title creations that have a rich history within the country's culture. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hossein Eskandari, Mina Rasti, (more)
- 2006
As authored and helmed by Bahman Farmanara, the melancholic, downbeat Iranian chamber drama A Little Kiss (AKA Yek Bous E-Bouchouloo, 2006) observes the reunion and blossoming friendship of two lost souls during their final days. Jamshid Mashajekli is Shebli, a belletrist who remained in Iran to become a national celebrity, but who now contemplates suicide in the shadow of impending lung cancer. Reza Kianian is Sa'adi - also a writer, but one who drew public scorn in Iran by unapologetically moving to Geneva for decades and completely neglecting his native land. Sa'adi suffers from encroaching dementia - a catalyst for his return to Persia, which he is direly afraid of forgetting. A tragedy also looms in his past, in the form of his son's suicide - which drove an emotional wedge in between Sa'adi and his wife and daughter and sparked years of writer's block. As the story opens, Sa'adi turns up on Shebli's doorstep, and the men spend time at Shebli's apartment jointly exploring and expressing deep-seated pain and resentment. Circumstances brighten when they subsequently leave the building and embark on a lively trip into the Iranian countryside, visiting a series of Persian landmarks. Yet death looms ever closer, as symbolized both by a female wraith-like figure who turns up repeatedly, and by the men's destination: the grave of Sa'adi's son. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jamshid Mashayekhi, Reza Kianian, (more)
A handful of men prove their masculine determination brings them nothing but trouble in this playful satiric comedy from Iran. Four longtime friends, all well into middle age, are returning to Tehran from a weekend skiing trip when they discover a large rock is stuck in the middle of a road winding around a mountain. The tall stone shaft (which appears just a bit phallic) is preventing them from going forward, so they try to push it over, with no success. They try to persuade an elderly man to help them move the rock with the help of his donkey, but the donkey's owner is wary, and after he's paid off, the plan still fails to move the stone. A pair of women happen by, one of whom is married to one of the skiers; while she tries to patiently stay out of the argument, her best friend is soon quarrelling with the guys about moving the rock, and as the day progresses and traffic begins to back up, she has more than a few other voices backing her up. Directed by Mani Haghighi, Karegaran Mashghoul-e Karand (aka Men At Work) was based on a story idea by the legendary Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Atila Pesyani, Mahmoud Kalari, (more)
Loosely based on the Parisian fable of Shahrazad and A Thousand and One Nights, director Ali Raffi's romantic drama tells the tale of a man who returns to his home near the Caspian Sea following a twenty-year absence, and the former lover who fears that he plans to destroy her livelihood. It's been a little over two decades since Aziz (Reza Kianian) embarked on an undesired journey, but now he has returned to the Caspian coast and his family's crumbling estate. When Aziz disappeared, his former flame Atieh (Roya Nonahali) commandeered the home and converted it into a small but popular restaurant. Now that Aziz is back, Atieh is convinced that he plans to reclaim his home and put her out of business. In hopes of rekindling the romance and keeping her restaurant open, Atieh calls on her daughter Touka (Golshifteh Farahani) and their colleagues to prepare a series of dishes that will delight Aziz's discerning palate. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Reza Kianian, Roya Nonahali, (more)
- 2002
Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine director Bahman Farmanara's second film following a 20-year exile from his native Iran depicts the spiritual crisis of a middle-aged man. In the film's dreamlike opening scene, Dr. Reza Sepidbakht (Reza Kianian), a well-off Tehran gynecologist, thinks he runs over an angel while driving home at night with a call girl. The next morning at the hospital where he works, he is shown a comatose boy who is famous for having memorized the entire Koran. These two events cause him to rethink his cynical outlook on life and his relationships with his elderly father, wayward son, and the women he has mistreated since becoming estranged from his wife. When the boy awakens from his coma, Dr. Sepidbakht begins to look to him for answers. A House Built on Water won first prize at the 2002 Fajr Film Festival in Tehran. ~ Tom Vick, Rovi
- Starring:
- Reza Kianian, Ezatollah Entezami, (more)
- 2000
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Iranian filmmaker Bahman Farmanara wrote, directed, and stars in this autobiographical drama of an artist reaching beyond the limits of censorship. Farjami (Farmanara) is a movie director living in Iran who has not been permitted to make a picture since the Post-Revolutionary Censor Board came into effect two decades earlier. Suffering from a serious cardiac condition, Farjami is convinced he does not have long to live, so he makes plans for one final project -- a film on burial rites, which may or may not include his own funeral. Farjami's new production, which requires him to research the nuts and bolts of burial practices, at once forces him to come to terms with his mortality and leads him to yet another conflict with the authorities determined to prevent his self-expression. Farjami also encounters a woman who shares with him a terrible secret -- and unwittingly implicates him in her wrongdoings. Booye Kafoor, Atre Yas is Farmanara's first film since Saiehaieh Bolan De Bad in 1979.
~ Mark Deming, Rovi
~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bahman Farmanara, Roya Nonahali, (more)
- 1999
A three-sided romance blooms in the rubble of war in this drama from Iran. In the wake of fighting with Iraq, Dawood (Parviz Parastuyi) is clearing the war-torn desert of mines when he meets Mahbube (Azita Hajiyan), a woman hoping to restore the remnants of her family's farm. A chemistry forms between them, but when Mahbube sells a tank she discovers on her property to a proto-hippie surplus dealer (Reza Kianian), two men find themselves vying for her attention. Director Ebrahim Hatamikia's anti-war saga is marked by outstanding photography and a fine musical score. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Azita Hajian, Parviz Parastoei, (more)
- 1996
This Iranian drama takes place within a Tehran apartment during a dinner party between four people. Much of the story centers upon Fariba, a frustrated writer whose husband has left her. She goes to the home of Firozeh and the wheelchair-bound Syavash, a former athlete. Now Syavash makes his living as a painter and constantly assures his insecure wife that he needs nothing more in his life than his art and her, but as happy as they outwardly seem, the evening slowly reveals their darker side -- the side that grieves over the death of their child. The final guest at this dinner is a depressed doctor, distraught over his missing wife who has left him. As each abandoned person tells his or her story, flashbacks embellish the tales. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1995
A victim of the Iran-Iraq war struggles with a difficult dilemma when he must decide whether to claim his young daughter or leave her with the kind woman who raised her in this moving Iranian melodrama. The tale begins as the war rages around a small Iranian village. There Reza frantically searches for a car battery so he can rush his pregnant wife to a hospital. Unfortunately, they arrive too late and she dies soon after bearing Reza's daughter. Reza isn't there for the birth because he had to rush back to save his family. He takes a wrong turn and ends up in the midst of fighting where he is captured and placed in a POW camp. Meanwhile back at the hospital, Shokuh, the surgeon who oversaw the birth, decides to raise the poor infant herself when the fighting erupts around the hospital. Later she flees and sees a smoldering corpse and she figures that it is Reza. Nine years later, the father is finally released and goes in search of his daughter. He finds Shokuh and sees that Kimia, his daughter has been raised amidst wealth and safety. When Shokuh, a war widow, learns Reza's identity, she is naturally upset. Reza is upset too, for he can see that Kimia is happy. With such high stakes, both adults, wanting what's best for the child must struggle with their own desires and the painful realization that one of them must somehow live without Kimia. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
