Author: Joel Fisher

Tehran: City of Love is a tragic comedy about three strangers all trying to find a better life, until they suddenly find their lives changing in ways they never expected. Hessem (Amir Hessam Bakhitiari) is a professional body builder turned personal trainer who has aspirations of being an actor, willing to do almost anything to be a star.

Vahid (Mehdi Saki) is a singer whose wife has left him, just as his career picks up and he starts singing for weddings, and Mina (Forough Ghajabagli) is a lonely plastic surgeon’s receptionist who likes to call up the handsome clients she finds and pretends to be somebody else. All three stories are knowingly sad but also have a great spark of humour as their stories play out, even as they find themselves crossing paths.

The second film from writer/director Ali Jaberansari, Tehran: City of Love is played with a wry smile to the audience as the film shows the lives of its seemingly disconnected cast who all share at least one thing in common. The film talks about the world as it is today and the path to perfection that many will take in order to fulfil their dreams or simply to make themselves feel better.

As sad as that may be, unfortunately these themes are universal. However, the audience are never supposed to directly laugh at the main cast, because their stories are so relatable and even if the irony of their stories may seem a little contrived in places, the audience may even find a little of Hessem, Vahid and Mina in themselves.

Out of the three stories, Mina’s journey to find love and to acceptance, is by far the best part of the film. Ghajabagli’s performance is funny and yet endearing, so the audience never really pities her nor see her as a hateful character. Even as Mina is pretending to be somebody completely different on the phone to the handsome clients she meets, the audience still warms to her because, perhaps somewhere in their minds, they would love to have the courage to pull of something so wicked themselves.

This is not your typical romantic comedy where everything ends happily and is tied up nicely before the end credits. However, as the credits roll, perhaps the audience will start to think about their own lives and want to grab the opportunities that life gives them, before it’s too late.

Out Of Blue: The BRWC Review. When Detective Mike Hoolihan (Patricia Clarkson) is called to investigate the shooting of leading astrophysicist and black hole expert, Jennifer Rockwell (Mamie Gummer), she is affected in ways she struggles to comprehend. Unfortunately, the audience may struggle to comprehend how exactly such a dull, lifeless and predictable movie such as Out of Blue ever got made. Even if it is taken from the Martin Amis novel, Night Train.

There are a number of things that may pull in an audience to watch Out of Blue. The promise of a cast with actors such as Toby Jones, James Caan and Jacki Weaver may be enough to make some people take notice. However, like most films of this quality, the names in the movie are generally just there to draw in said audiences.

Besides Weaver’s performance (as erratic and uneven as it is), the rest of the supporting cast are two dimensional, not knowing how to play their characters because they simply aren’t fleshed out enough. Patricia Clarkson’s performance may also be explained by the lack of characterisation. Besides her business haircut, dark leather jacket and daring tattoo there really isn’t much to say about Mike Hoolihan and unfortunately, I feel that Clarkson knows this as well, making her come across as bored and disinterested.

Having not read the source material I cannot really compare, but I would like to think that perhaps there were some more details about the characters that didn’t go from the page to the screen.

However, I fear that characters were not the only thing left behind from the novel. As the film attempts to delve into the philosophy of quantum physics, there is a sense that writer/director Carol Morley may have thought that the audience might not understand the science so for the most part this is entirely left out. There is a very surface level exploration of what it means to be human and what defines our existence, but I feel the audience may get a little sick of hearing the same thing repeated over and over again and this may make some feel like they’re being treated like idiots.

The pseudo-science in the script often feels like it is trying to sound intellectual but without really saying anything moving or profound, making the film even more drawn out and frustrating than it already was without it.

Out of Blue could have been a detective story that leant into the clichés with reckless abandon and given its audience an interesting story, great performances and enough to keep them interested. Unfortunately, it fails on all accounts. I feel that perhaps this is not what Carol Morley really wanted to do and so when the opportunity arose, she took it to tide her over until her next project. This would certainly explain the performances from the cast.

Hate Crime is a film about two families dealing with a murder when one of their sons kills the other because he is gay. The Browns, Ginny (Amy Redford) and Tom (Kevin Bernhardt) find their marriage on the verge of breaking point as they deal with the repercussions of the murder, and the Demarcos, John (John Schneider) and Marie (Laura Cayouette) feel like they’re dealing with things the best that they can, although cracks soon start to appear as their points of view differ.

Told as a slice of life drama, the film gradually unfolds as the two sets of parents are given the time to set down their characters and to tell the audience how their relationships are affected after such a tragedy.

There could be a temptation to show one family as being less sympathetic than the other, but thankfully the script is far more nuanced and thoughtful, so the film never goes into melodrama and maintains the realism of the situation. There are a couple of twists along the way, but they are never meant to shock or surprise the audience, but rather they are there to develop the story a little more so that any preconceived ideas are challenged, making the situation more three dimensional.

Hate Crime starts out slowly, and for those who may not be familiar with the premise then they may find their attention wandering a little, especially as this kind of drama is rarely seen these days. However, the story is compelling, the characters feel real and the script is carefully and considerately crafted to show the story from as many angles as possible, but without any forced dialogue or contrived plot twists.

For a film that has such a provocative set up, it would be a dangerous task to misrepresent the situation and to pull back on the harder issues it raises. However, I’m glad to say that Hate Crime does everything it sets out to do, giving the audience a satisfying and well told story. There are times where the mournful violin and piano score may feel a bit forced in certain scenes, but this is a minor criticism.

In fact, without the distraction, the film may make its audience more uncomfortable than necessary. Hate Crime is a moving and thought-provoking drama that shows all sides to what could have been a cliched and one-sided story if handled differently. Often not a film that is easy to watch, but for the writing alone it is worth visiting the Browns and the Demarcos.