KurdishCinema
Half Moon The Hollywood Reporter / Kirk Honeycutt / September 11, 2006 TORONTO - Like most of Bahman Ghobadi's films, "Half Moon" is a journey through the frighteningly rugged and stunning landscape that is Iranian Kurdistan. It is a landscape of haunting, magical imagery, tragic fates, absurdist comedy and deliriously emotional characters. "Half Moon" represents a more tragic side to Ghobadi, but there is a sense of acceptance of fate. Even death is not bad luck, one character insists. Mozart's "Requiem" led Ghobadi to this story. The movie was commissioned by the New Crowned Hope festival taking place in Vienna in November in celebration of the composer's 250th anniversary. All new works in many disciplines including cinema -- several of the movies are debuting here in Toronto -- use Mozart's music as an inspiration. Ghobadi says the "Requiem" is "a very close feeling to Kurdistan's landscape" and that his principal character, a famous, aging Kurdish musician named Mamo (Ismail Ghaffari), embodies Mozart's spirit.
crew members -- his two fine cinematographers are Nigel Block and Crighton Bone -- Ghobadi has made another touching and wise film that will grace screens at many festivals and in specialty venues worldwide.
concert in Iraqi Kurdistan, Mamo despite his age is a ball of fire. The old musician hasn't performed there in 35 years. He commandeers a school bus to drive him around the countryside to collect his 10 musician sons.
muse so he needs a female singer. While he does have permission to use a female singer at the concert, women singers are banned in Iran so he must smuggle the uncertain Hesho (Hedieh Tahrani) past checkpoints and gruff border guards.
shot of Mamo catches him resting in a newly dug grave as if trying it out for that long rest ahead of him. Gradually, the road picture takes on a dreamlike quality as obstacles loom larger and tragedy snipes at the bus with each passing mile.
are destroyed. An old friend dies hours before Mamo reaches his village. And the camera with which Mamo's faithful bus driver, Kako (Allah Morad Rashtiani), has recorded the historic mission has run out of tape. Then a surprise character literally lands on the top of the bus, an occurrence the writer-director does not bother to explain in realistic terms. So "Half Moon" echoes other Mozart themes of magic and transformation and of the comic mingling with the tragic. Kurdish music naturally runs throughout, one of the film's many blessings. It's a music that is strange and yet strangely familiar, a sound that emanates from a hardscrabble land and its tough, unlucky people. Ghobadi always uses non-pro actors but you would never know. In fact, professionals wouldn't do theses roles justice since the recruited performers are partly playing themselves and partly playing people Ghobadi has known since he was a boy. In a movie of strong imagery, one stands out: Ghobadi collects Hesho from a mountain retreat where 1,334 female singers, banned from performing in public, live in exile. The sight of these singers, drumming and singing in their colorful costumes as they line streets and rooftops of an ancient village that clings to a hillside, speaks forcefully to the human repression of that part of the world. HALF MOON A MIJ Film/New Crowned Hope/Silkroad production Credits: Writer/director/producer: Bahman Ghobadi Executive producer: Simon Field, Keith Griffiths Director of photography: Nigel Block, Crighton Bone Production designers: Mansooreh Vazdanjoo, Bahman Ghobadi Music: Hossein Alizadeh Editor: Hayedeh Safiyari. Cast: Mamo: Ishmail Ghaffari Kako: Alllah Morad Rashtiani Hesho: Hedieh Tahrani Border policeman: Hassan Poorshirazi Niwemang: Golshiften Farahani Shouan: Sadiq Behzadpoor No MPAA rating Running time -- 110 minutes Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp? vnu_content_id=1003119381 |
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Half Moon to be screened at 31st Hong Kong Int. Film Festival twice |
