Amin Maher - Himself
Abbas Kiarostami (Director)
Abbas Kiarostami is a director that I have been wanting to check out for a long time. He started making waves in the international film circuit in the early 90's even though he had been making film for almost 20 years at that time. He is an Iranian film maker who makes Iranian films. A sometimes dangerous profession in that country.
Ten is an interesting film. That is a terrible way to start off a review, but I don't know how much I can speak about this movie. It is a documentary of sorts. The entire films is shot on the dashboard of a car. The only shots are of either the driver, Akbari or her passengers. The passengers range from her brat of a child, to her sister, a friend, an old woman she gives a ride to and a prostitute that gets in the car when she isn't looking.
I say this is a documentary of sorts because you can tell some of the situations are staged. One thing I will not forget for a while is the son, Amin. Mania is a progressive Iranian woman, standing up for herself, working, divorcing Amin's father because he didn't treat her well. Amin (I think) is used to represent the traditional Iranian male. He is very abusive towards his mother. He calls her horrible names and talks back and is totally disrespectful towards her. A position that is allowed and encouraged by many Iranian men.
The opening shot is 17 minutes of dialogue between mother and child. I wanted to beat the crap out of the kid and I didn't know if I was going to be able to finish the films if it were only about their relationship. But fortunately Kiarostami gives his viewers a break from the family drama, but not for long. We then get a parable about falling in love from a friend that has lost a man and is a wreck, a sister that lost a man and shaves her head to reveal a beautiful / strong woman, and a prostitute that has a different man every 30 minutes. We can contrast all these relationships and their concepts of "love".
As a whole there is only so much you can do with 2 digital cameras mounted on the dashboard of a car. I will say that I enjoyed the movie and I am interested in seeing more of the directors work, but I need a little more visually. I enjoy minimalism as much as the next guy, but this film pushes the limits. I give Ten ★★★. Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.
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