Babak Karimi Movies

With Quiet Chaos (Caos Calmo), acclaimed Italian helmer Nanni Moretti steps away from his standard directorial role to essay the lead and co-author the script in a gentle psychological drama directed by Antonello Grimaldi. Moretti stars as Pietro, a film executive whose life takes an irreversible and devastating turn one fateful morning. During a trip to the beach with his brother, Pietro's path intersects with that of a woman, Eleonora (Isabella Ferrari), who is drowning in the ocean; horrified, Pietro rushes in to save her. He subsequently returns home only to discover that his wife, Lara, just died in a nasty falling accident; devastated to the core, this nascent widower must make the necessary psychological accommodations to adjust to life as a single parent, with sole responsibility for raising his ten-year-old daughter, Claudia (Blu Yoshimi). Almost instinctively, as a reaction to Lara's death, Pietro opts to sit and wait for his daughter to finish school each day (in a park across from the school), in lieu of abandoning her to his own priorities and commitments. This means that the fellow's colleagues in the film industry must, by necessity, come to do business with him in the park. Through it all, Pietro remains silently dumbfounded that the tragedy itself hasn't shaken him more, that the grief (the "quiet chaos" of the title) is subtly agonizing instead of grossly traumatizing and debilitating. Nevertheless, he ultimately begins to approach a full realization and acceptance of his loss, and gains an enhanced awareness of himself and others from the potentially crippling events thrust into his path. Valeria Golino (Rain Man) co-stars; Roman Polanski appears in a cameo as one of Pietro's industry colleagues. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

While a number of filmmakers and sociologists have weighed in on the growing popularity of plastic surgery among young people in America and what this says about the self-image of teens, what few people know is that more nose jobs are performed in Iran each year than in any other country in the world -- between sixty and seventy thousand annually. A large and growing percentage of young people in Iran, hoping to adopt a more "western" appearance, have their noses made smaller through rhinoplasty, even young Moslem women who hide most of their faces with traditional scarves. Filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei explores this phenomenon in his documentary Damagh Be Sakbe Irani (aka Nose Iranian Style), in which he interviews a number of teens who have either had the operation or are considering it, the parents to give their blessings to this practice (and their money to the plastic surgeon), and trends in Middle Eastern culture which may be contributing to this wave of new noses. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A child born under religious persecution grows into a man who questions the foundations of faith in director Pasquale Scimeca's thought-provoking, faith-based drama. The year is 1492 and Castilian queen Isabel has ordered all Jews and Muslims out of Spain. When a boy named Joshua (Leonardo Cesare Abude) is born into the religious strife and is predicted by elder Don Issac (Toni Bertorelli) to be the new Messiah, Issac joins his exiled people in order to ensure safe passage for the boy. As the boy grows into a young man and follows his family to Naples, his questions about Jesus garner a wide variety of responses from his fellow Jewish and Muslim travelers. When the safe haven of Naples turns inhospitable and Joshua's family is forced to move on to Sicily, his subsequent fascination with Catholic rituals raises the ire of the local clergy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Directed by Babak Payami, Sokaate Beine Do Feks (The Silence Between Two Thoughts) takes place in an exotic desert village where an executioner (Kamal Naroui) is ordered not to shoot a virgin female (Maryam Moghaddam) on the grounds that she would go to Paradise if killed in her "pure" state. His leader commands the executioner to marry the girl, sleep with her, and kill her once the deed is done. Besieged by doubt, he doesn't touch the prisoner after she takes up residence in his house. Meanwhile, the power hungry Hajui sends his goons off to murder a religious figure, inciting a riot from the villagers. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

This Italian documentary is comprised of six interviews with some of Italy's best directors including Dino Risi, Ettore Scola, Sergio Citti, the brothers Taviani, Mario Monicelli, and Francesco Rosi. Each of the distinguished directors is interviewed by an up-and-coming young director. The resulting interplay between the old and new guard provides fascinating insight into the state of modern Italian cinema. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide