Homayoun Ershadi Movies
Actor Homayoun Ershadi debuted onscreen in the late '90s, and spent the majority of his first decade as a film actor tackling assignments -- mostly lead roles -- in his native Iran. In that sphere, Ershadi worked for some of the most acclaimed of all contemporary Persian directors, including Abbas Kiarostami (The Taste of Cherry), Dariush Mehrjui (Derakht-E Golabi), and Ramin Mohseini (Az Dourdast). Ershadi gained particularly widespread acclaim for the deliberate and elliptical Cherry, in which he portrays a despondent middle-aged man on a cross-country suicide mission. The actor then signed on to portray Baba, a loving father to a young Afghani boy, in Marc Forster's critically acclaimed drama The Kite Runner (2007), adapted from the novel by Khaled Hosseini. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
A fourth century slave (Max Minghella) is confronted with his love for his intellectual alchemist master, Hypatia of Alexandria (Rachel Weisz), and the temptations of freedom spurred by the rise of Christianity in this historical epic from acclaimed filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella, (more)
Finding Neverland director Marc Forster adapts author Khaled Hosseini's critically acclaimed novel about two childhood best friends forever torn apart as their country is ravaged by endless war and bitter strife. As children, Amir (Khalid Abdalla) and Hassan were inseparable; their long days under azure Kabul skies often spent getting into innocent mischief or preparing for the highly anticipated kite-fighting tournament. When the day of the tournament arrives, however, a glorious victory is quickly offset by a timorous act of betrayal that ultimately serves as the catalyst for catastrophe. Not long after that fateful day, Amir moves away to America, leaving his old friend behind just as the ominous specter of war turns tragically tangible. Two decades later, Amir returns to Afghanistan to find his beloved homeland has now fallen under the iron-fisted rule of the Taliban. Still, all hope for redemption hasn't been lost just yet, because now that Amir stands face to face with the irrepressible secrets that he struggled so vigilantly to bury, he will receive one last chance to make peace with the past, and lay the groundwork for a brighter future. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Khalid Abdalla, Homayoun Ershadi, (more)
- 2006
Persian director Ramin Mohseni's episode film Az Dourdast (AKA From Afar) tells three successive stories of life in Iran, each with the same two actors, Jamshid Hasempour and Kourosh Tahami. The first, a parable about the holiness of knowledge and the written word, cross-cuts between two time frames: the ancient past, where a sheik (Hasempour) combats the aftereffects of a barbarian invasion by struggling to prevent his books from being burned, and contemporary times, where an Iranian student (Tahami) must sell his book collection to pay his rent and dodge eviction. The second segment casts Tahami as Mehran, a secret art-lover who struggles not only with the recent departure of his wife, but with his obnoxious, domineering mother (Behnaz Jafari). To escape from the oppression of his environment, he takes a long sojourn into the mountains to revel in the beauty of nature, and encounters a reclusive, eccentric painter (Hasempour). In the final episode, Hasempour and Tahami play, respectively, a father and his affluent architect son. When the father dies, the son grapples with the devastation of his loss, ultimately journeying to a countryside mosque that they visited together when he was a child. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kourosh Tahami, Jamshid Hashempour, (more)
In this bittersweet Iranian drama, middle-aged author Mahmoud (Homayoun Ershadi) reflects on his youth, and the story flashes back to post-WW II Iran and awkward 11-year-old Mahmoud (Mohammad Reza Shaban-Noori) at a country estate north of Tehran where the youth falls under the spell of his 14-year-old female cousin known only as M (Golshifte Farahani). As Mahmoud's infatuation increases, his adolescent dreams soar to creative, religious, and erotic heights. Decades later, a barren pear tree leads his memories back to M. Shown at the 1998 Fajr Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Homayoun Ershadi, Golshifteh Farahani, (more)
Co-winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, The Taste of Cherry is the venerable Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami's examination of life, death and the small miracles in between. Homayoun Ershadi stars as Mr. Badii, a middle-aged man wishing to kill himself; driving his Range Rover across the arid outskirts of Tehran, he searches for someone to aid him in his final hours, someone who will agree to bury his body if he succeeds in his mission -- a planned overdose of sleeping pills -- or rescue him if he fails. Offering a large sum of money in exchange for services rendered, he first picks up a Kurdish soldier who ultimately flees in fear upon learning of Badii's plan; the next passenger, an Afghani seminary student, instead attempts to convince him of the sanctity of human life. Finally, Badii picks up a Turkish taxidermist who reluctantly agrees to check the body for signs of life; having long ago contemplated suicide himself, the taxidermist also tries to dissuade Badii from ending it all, accepting the offer only because he needs the money to care for his sick daughter. Kiarostami's refusal to answer the film's two most obvious questions -- exactly why does Mr. Badii wish to end his life, and does he successfully carry out his plan? -- invites viewers to share in his protagonist's plight by triggering their own powers of imagination. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Homayoun Ershadi
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