FCS ’16: The Paternal House

Any Iranian film with a history this torturous must talk some pretty serious truth to power. Banned at home, Kianoush Ayyari’s family saga has been slow to roll out international, due to the Islamist authorities’ bureaucratic foot-dragging and finger-wagging. Somehow Ayyari convinced the Iranian State Police’s film division to put up percent of the financing, but they were less than amused to subsequently discover they had funded a story about an honor killing. In its way, it is also a haunted house tale, but it is guilt and denial that torment Kabal’s clan rather than a spirit. The sins of the past hang over successive generations in Ayyari’s The Paternal House, which screens as part of this year’s Film Comment Selects.

The year is 1929, but it is very much like today when it comes to Islamist attitudes towards women. The details will be forgotten, but for some reason Kabal has resolved to kill his daughter for supposedly dishonoring the family. He will recruit her ten year old brother Motashahn to help bash her skull in and bury her under the cobblestones of their backroom. Although the outraged uncle is now duly satisfied, Kabal’s wife Masumeh is suspicious of the cover story. However, it is not until 1946 that she learn the full truth, with dire consequences.

As Motashahn ages from ten to eighty-five, he will continually witness the bad karma rain down on his family as a result of his crimes. Matches will be broken, resentments will fester, and their business will suffer. Yet, he keeps scrambling to maintain the cover-up, while clinging to his twisted notion of honor.

Frankly, it is perversely spectacular to watch the plague of misfortunates visited on Kabal’s clan. There is a grim logic to it all that is profoundly compelling. It is deeper than just history repeating itself and the sons bearing the sins of the father, but those truisms most definitely apply in full force.

Even though the workshop in question and the adjoining courtyard are relatively spacious, Ayyari creates an unsettlingly claustrophobic atmosphere. The vibe is unrelentingly tense, but also acutely tragic. Basically, the ancestral home become a nest of vipers for which the patriarch has no one to blame but himself.

Obviously, this is bold stuff in Iran, approaching the outright radioactive. However, a number of prominent screen actors lent their talents to the controversial project. They are all quite believable as a family, albeit a severely dysfunctional one. Yet, perhaps none is more uncomfortably poignant than Shahab Hosseini as the grown 1990s grandson, who is two generations removed from the murder, but it still hopelessly mired in its consequences.

You know what they say about karma? Ayyari confirms it once again, in spades. It is not pretty to watch, but you will not be able to look away. This is drama with a purpose, executed with passion and skill. Very highly recommended, The Paternal House screens this Saturday (2/20) at the Walter Reade as part of Film Comment Selects and on May 6^th at NYU’s Hagop Kevorkian Center as part of the Rethinking Iranian Cinema series.

Catch Me Daddy: Honor Crimes in West Yorkshire

Provincial West Yorkshire is a tough area to find work, but it ought to be the perfect spot to lay low. Unfortunately, it is not far enough off the grid for one Pakistani woman and her Scots boyfriend. When discovered by her family and its hired thugs, they have no other options except desperate flight in Daniel & Matthew Wolfe’s Catch Me Daddy (trailer here), which opens this Friday in metro Los Angeles.

Maybe Aaron is not the world’s greatest catch, but you cannot question his willingness to commit. By continuing his relationship with Laila, he is knowingly risking his life. As the film opens, he is far stricter when it comes to security than the somewhat in-denial Laila. Of course, his concerns will be vindicated when her brother Zaheer catches her flat-footed in their trailer. She barely escapes in the subsequent struggle, rendezvousing with Aaron in town. Her father’s associates and a pair of Anglo strong arm men follow hot on their heels, looking for any weakness they might exploit.

Rational parents simply endure it as best they can when their daughters get involved with disappointing boyfriends, whereas Muslim fundamentalists, like Laila’s restauranteur father, plot to murder their daughters and their forbidden significant others. These are called “honor crimes,” but there is nothing honorable about them. Although systemically under-reported, the number of recently recorded honor crimes committed in the UK is significant enough for even the BBC to take notice. Not surprisingly, Catch touched a bit of a nerve with British audiences, even though the Wolfe Brothers scrub the film of any references to Islam, leaving viewers with the impression this must be some sort of dark manifestation of Punjabi culture.

On the other hand, the warts-and-all depictions of Laila and Aaron are shrewdly effective. Hardly idealized martyrs for pluralistic tolerance, they are realistically messy and flawed, which is precisely why they do not deserve what lies in store for them. Sameena Jabeen Ahmed’s lead performance is quite remarkable. At times she is almost childlike, yet she must deal with some absolutely horrific realities. As her less showy partner, Connor McCarron does yeoman work, keeping their relationship and the film completely grounded. Gary Lewis also adds some potent vinegar to the film, keeping the audience off balance with his portrayal of Tony the cocaine addicted ruffian, who passes for the voice of reason amongst Laila’s pursuers.

Catch is a strange film, in that it wants to spotlight the prevalence of honor crimes, but it does not want to address why they happen. Yet, it is hard to completely sweep the 800 pound gorilla under the rug. Indeed, the implications of Laila’s situation speak for themselves, thanks to some extraordinary performances.

It is all wrapped up in a grittily striking package, thanks in large measure to Robbie Ryan, who has already amassed a filmography that suggests he will be one of the few cinematographers whose work will become the stuff of future retrospectives. Catch just might be his best film to date (or at least the equal of Wuthering Heights). He vividly captures the desolation of the Yorkshire moors evoking a sense of moodier, revisionist westerns. It is an aesthetically severe film, but it has considerable merit and great urgency. Highly recommended overall, Catch Me Daddy opens this Friday (8/7) in LA (Beverly Hills) at the Laemmle Music Box and it screens this Saturday (8/8) in Williamsburg at Videology. Also note, a VOD release is scheduled for 9/1 from Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Honour: It Happens in London

In her bestseller Londonistan, British journalist Melanie Phillips argues Britain’s pluralistic liberal values are steadily eroding due to the rise of Islamist ideology from within. At one point, Mona’s brother makes a similar point, but he brazenly considers himself part of the process. Kasim happens to be a police officer, who is determined to murder his sister out of a perverse sense of family duty in Shan Khan’s simply but evocatively titled Honour (trailer here), which launches today on VOD.

Mona scandalized her Muslim Pakistani family by pursuing romance with a Punjabi Hindu colleague. For that, she must die. However, she proves to be unexpectedly elusive for the severe Kasim and his somewhat reluctant younger brother, Adel, so they enlist a specialist. Ever since his release from prison, the unnamed bounty hunter has carved out a niche for himself, based on referrals from the imam he served time with. Just how the heavily tattooed white supremacist formed an alliance with the devout Muslim remains unspoken, but one can easily assume they bonded over targets of mutual hate.

Nevertheless, the nameless thug-for-hire is starting to develop a conscience, especially after witnessing the savage treatment of his last highly pregnant target. It will be ironic if the former Aryan gang member teaches Mona’s family a lesson in real honor, but in all honesty, Kasim and his cold-blooded mother set the bar awfully low.

As usual, Paddy Considine is totally money-in-the-bank as the bounty hunter. It is a gritty punch-to-the-gut portrayal of soul-sickness and redemption, yet it is not really his movie. Instead, Atlantis co-star Aiysha Hart shoulders a disproportionate share of the film’s load, acquitting herself rather well. In fact, she seems to get stronger as the film progresses, vividly expressing understandable feelings of fear, pain, and betrayal. While the ad-hoc alliance between her and Considine’s grim brooder might strike some viewers as a bit too pat, their rapport helps considerably to sell it on-screen.

Hard to pigeon-hole, Honour rather effectively straddles the border between thrillers and social issue dramas. Arguably, Khan’s out-of-sequence temporal narrative gets a little too cute for its own good, but it does accentuate the suspense at several key junctures. More importantly, he masterfully maintains the tension, conveying a visceral sense of Mona’s bereft alienation.

Honour is not pitch-perfect, but it certainly pulls the audience in and keeps us hooked. It is also quite a bold film. Keep in mind, this all takes place in London (or rather a Glasgow doubling for London)—the financial capitol of Europe and beacon of freedom during two world wars—not some mountain hamlet in Afghanistan. Recommended as a film and as well a social critique, Honour is now available through VOD platforms, with a theatrical release to be announced sometime in the summer.

Unfairly Snubbed: When We Leave

Like many Turkish immigrants, Umay came to Germany in search of a better life for herself and her young son Cem. In their case, that meant getting away from her abusive husband Kemal. Unfortunately, she finds the traditional baggage from her home country is hard to shake in Feo Aladag’s When We Leave (trailer here), Germany’s unfairly overlooked official submission for best foreign language Oscar consideration, which opens this Friday in New York.

Due to Leave’s framing device, we start the film under the assumption things will not work out for Umay. Actually, we have no idea. A strikingly beautiful woman, Umay’s husband uses her as a domestic slave. However, when he begins terrorizing their son as well, Umay decides to flee. At first, her family in Germany is delighted to see her, but they keep asking about Kemal. When her father Kader and older brother Mehmet learn the truth, they have only one word for Umay: “whore.”

Despite Umay’s protests, Kader makes it unequivocally clear Umay must return to her rightful owner, or consider herself banished from the family. While Umay must protect herself and her son, she cannot turn her back on the only family she has ever loved. Unfortunately, the warning of her friend proves tragically correct—her family will always choose their community over a mere daughter.

Leave is a truly intense film that frankly depicts all manner of crimes committed in the name of so-called honor. We witness spousal abuse, abduction attempts, stalking, and worse. Yet, for Umay, the emotional isolation for her family is the hardest to bear.

The strikingly beautiful Sibel Kekilli deservedly won best actress honors at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival for her heartrending portrayal of Umay. An active supporter of Terre de Femmes, a German-based non-profit dedicated to Muslim women targeted with physical violence, Kekilli clearly drew from real life in her riveting performance. It is hard to watch at times as her Umay is spat upon (literally and figuratively) by her formerly loving family.

The unblinking intimacy of Aladag’s approach viscerally captures a wealth of unspoken nuances passing between characters. She also elicits some quite accomplished work from her supporting cast. As Umay’s German boyfriend Stipe, Florian Lukas adds a bit of depth to a part that could easily be dismissed as the schmucky nice guy. Yet perhaps the most surprising turn comes from Settar Tanriögen as Umay’s pained father, evoking a sense of high tragedy through Kader’s cowardice and conformity.

Frankly, it is something of a scandal Leave did not even make the nine film shortlist for the best foreign language Oscar. It is a powerful film, featuring a truly brave lead performance from Kekilli. Far superior to the five nominees announced yesterday, the remarkable Leave opens this Friday (1/28) in New York at the Angelika Film Center.

Honor Killing in Turkey: Bliss

There is a modern secular Turkey and there is a traditional Islamic Turkey. Whether they can coexist within the same political-geographic borders remains to be determined. The tension between enlightened modernism and the misogynist old ways drives Abdullah Oğuz’s Bliss (trailer here), a bold look at the "honor" killing practice in provincial Turkey, opening this Friday in New York.

As the film opens, a shepherd finds young Meryem badly beaten and violated, lying unconscious near a lake outside her remote village. He carries her home not to a sympathetic family, but a cruel step-mother and weak father, who automatically blame her for her condition. The village Agha, her father’s cousin, decrees that Meryem must die for the dishonor she allegedly brought upon the family. When she refuses to do the job for them, the Agha assigns his son Cemal, recently discharged from the army, the horrific task of her honor killing.

Though a dutiful son, Cemal has no taste for cold-blooded murder. Although he is conflicted, uncertain whether he is truly doing the right thing, Cemal spares Meryem. As they take flight from their wrathful family, Meryem and Cemal must turn their backs on their former village lives. They find refuge as crew members on the yacht of Irfan, a sociology professor who dropped out of academic life, hoping to find peace of mind through life on the water.

Clearly, Irfan represents the modern secular impulse of Turkey. He is an educated man, who can talk to a former student wearing a bikini without thinking anything of it. Cemal by contrast, nearly goes into shock. A bit free-spirited but no idiot, Irfan starts to suspect the rough outline of his young crew’s troubles and does his best to help them find their way.

The three main characters of Bliss are sharply drawn and well nuanced, raising it above the level of a mere issue film. Özgü Namal gives an understated, but moving performance as Meryem, a woman abused all her life, only now starting to assert herself after suffering an unspeakable trauma. Murat Han brings seething intensity to the role of Cemal, conveying the bitterness and resentment of a man forced to confront the injustice of customs he had always uncritically accepted. As the silver-maned professor, Talat Bulut comes across as realistically flawed but deeply humane, rather than a caricature of modernist nobility.

Oğuz and Bosnian cinematographer Mirsad Heroviç use their isolated locations to create some striking visuals, showcasing the natural beauty of Turkey. Well paced, the tension is quite acute at times, growing organically out of the story.

While Bliss never mentions the Islamic religion by name, Turkish audiences could easily identify the religious context of the Agha and his malevolent conception of honor. Indeed, Islamic honor killings are still very much a reality, acknowledged even by the United Nations, which estimates thousands of women are murdered each year for perceived crimes ranging from simple flirtation to being the innocent victims of sexual assault. Like the Stoning of Soraya M., Bliss is a film that needs to be seen by a wide audience because it addresses the peril faced by far too many Muslim women in world today.

Even discounting the importance of its subject matter, Bliss holds up very well in pure cinematic terms. It is an absorbing film that incorporates elements of “on-the-run” thriller with a shrewd examination of the uneasy marriage of the modern and the traditional in contemporary Turkey. Highly recommended, it opens Friday (8/7) at the Cinema Village.

The True Story of Soraya M.

The United Nations estimates as many as 5,000 Islamic women fall victim to so-called “honor killings” every year. Whether reported or not, each instance is an appalling crime, utterly incompatible with any concept of honor. Now the true nature of honor killing has been graphically dramatized in Cyrus Nowrasteh’s viscerally intense The Stoning of Soraya M. (trailer here), opening in select cities this Friday.

Freidoune Sahebjam was a French-Iranian journalist who exposed many of the Islamist regime’s human rights abuses. When passing through a provincial town, a chance encounter with Zahra, a sophisticated older woman of the Shah’s secular era, leads to the biggest story of his career. Just the day before, her niece Soraya was gruesomely executed for the crime of inconveniencing her husband. As Sahebjam interviews Zahra, she bears witness to the terrible injustice that befell Soraya.

Zahra explains the abusive Ali wanted a divorce, so he could marry the fourteen year old girl he lusts after. However, he did not want to financially support Soraya or their two daughters. Of course, none of this violates Islamic notions of honor according to the hypocritical local mullah. Rather then live up to his obligations, Ali conspired with the mullah to falsely accuse Soraya of adultery. In post-Revolutionary Iran, this was clearly the easiest course of action for him. As the town’s mayor explicitly explains, if a husband accuses his wife of adultery, she must prove her innocence, but if a wife accuses her husband, she must prove his guilt.

Given the film’s title and the framing device, it is no secret where Stoning will end. It is not called the Narrow Escape of Soraya M., after all. However, Nowrasteh (the Iranian-American screenwriter and producer of The Path to 9-11) creates such a sense of mounting horror, it seems like the actual stoning will come as a relief. And then it happens.

Watching Stoning, you become acutely conscious of all the conventions of American legal dramas which do not apply here. There will be no heroic appeals or a last minute stay from governor. Once Soraya is declared guilty, the die is cast. However, it is also just as evident this is not a case of mob rule overwhelming the town’s better nature. What happened was deliberate, allowing plenty of time for cool heads to prevail while Soraya’s execution pit was dug.

Stoning is Soraya’s story, but it is Shohreh Aghdashloo’s film. The Oscar-nominated Iranian-American actress gives a powerful, fearless performance as Zahra. Not simply the film’s noble conscience, she is a nuanced, fully realized character—an intelligent, assertive, but ultimately vulnerable woman in a society which grants her no legal standing. As Soraya, Mozhan Marnò avoids simply playing the innocent victim, investing her with surprising inner strength and resolution. While only briefly seen during the wrap-around segments, Jim Caviezel is nearly unrecognizable but effective as the intrepid Sahebjam.

Filmed on location at an undisclosed Middle East locale, Stoning completely immerses the audience in its forbidding world. It is an uncompromising film, fueled by outrage, but also a truly moving human drama. Following the Iranian regime’s violent attacks on democracy protestors, Stoning’s theatrical release could not be timelier. Yet, this would be an important film, even if the regime was not dominating headlines with its thuggish crackdown. It is a well-crafted, absolutely absorbing film that demands a wide audience. It opens in New York this Friday (6/26) at the Sunshine Cinema.

Photos courtesy of MPower Pictures

Doc: Forbidden Lie$

Most sportscasts decline to air footage of stupid “fans” charging the field of play, refusing to reward such behavior with attention and thereby encourage more such incidents. Maybe that policy should probably be applied prominent media frauds as well, which evidently includes bestselling author Norma Khouri. While her true motives remain obscure, the question of Khouri’s veracity is largely settled in Australian filmmaker Anna Broinowski’s documentary Forbidden Lie$ (trailer here), which opens in New York today.

Norma Khouri was a Jordanian Catholic in hiding from Jordanian Islamists, whose nonfiction account of her best friend’s honor killing became an international bestseller. Except, maybe not. Khouri’s book Forbidden Love did indeed become a bestseller. The truth about everything else, including Khouri’s very name, has been challenged. However, Khouri was so disturbed to see the questions surrounding her book used to undermine the international campaign against honor killing she agreed to participate in Broinowski’s film to confirm the circumstances of her friend Dalia’s murder. Or perhaps, she had another elaborate con to play.

Khouri quickly concedes she altered many of the details of her story to protect the safety and privacy of innocent parties. Her own personal history does not seem to be as she represented either, having spent most of her life in Chicago where she married a colorful Greek immigrant (suspected by some of having underworld connections), and allegedly swindled an ailing neighbor out of her life savings. Aside from the marriage, Khouri denies everything. Say what you will, she certainly does not lack guts. Supposedly wanted by the F.B.I., she brazenly walks into the Feds’ Chicago office, where no one seems to be interested in her.

To prove the underlying truth of her book, Khouri travels to Jordan with Broinowski and crew in tow. Yet, once she arrives, the locations never seem to match her ostensive memories. As Khouri’s story continues to evolve, Broinowski becomes increasingly frustrated chasing down blind alleys after phantom death certificates. Khouri is playing her, which she even boasts about to her bodyguard (or whoever he really is) in a surreptitiously recorded video. However, the real nature of her game is never revealed.

The greatest flaw in Lie$ is that the film is essentially unfinished. Perhaps she fabricated her book for a quick publishing buck, but just what Khouri expected to accomplish in Jordan is never revealed. She obviously goes to a great deal of effort for no apparent pay-off. Was it all just for attention? If so, Broinowski obviously rewarded her con in grand style. In truth, we never really learn who this person is or what her motives might be.

Ultimately, Lie$ only succeeds in discrediting an honor killing account, while leaving its main character a maddening cipher. So why release an incomplete film? It certainly was well received in certain quarters of the Islamic world, winning the Golden Award for long-form documentary at 2008 Al Jazeera Film Festival. (Writing about the fest, Broinowski gushes about the “refreshingly brazen critiques of US foreign policy.” Evidently, Broinowski has never attended an American or European film festival, where such fare is standard, but good luck programming a “brazen critique” of Islamist human rights abuses under Sharia Law.)

Clearly, some are quite pleased with a film which brings disrepute to the international campaign against honor killing through guilt by association with an almost certain fraud. Audiences who do not share such an agenda might be intrigued by the twists and turns of Khouri’s mysterious tale, but will be frustrated with the many questions Lie$ leaves unresolved. It opens today in New York at the Cinema Village.

NYTFF: Bliss

The UN estimates 5,000 Muslim women are murdered each year by their families in so-called “honor killings.” Their perceived crimes range from simple flirtation with a man the family deems inappropriate, to being the innocent victims of rape. The latter is the case in Abdullah Oğuz’s Bliss (Turkish trailer here), a bold examination of honor killings in provincial Turkey, screening this Sunday at the Anthology Film Archives as part of this year’s New York Turkish Film Festival.

As the film opens, a shepherd finds young Meryem badly beaten and violated, lying unconscious near a lake outside her remote village. He carries her home not to a sympathetic family, but a cruel step-mother and weak father, who automatically blame her for her condition. The village Agha, her father’s cousin, decrees that Meryem must die for the dishonor she allegedly brought upon the family. When she refuses to do the job for them, the Agha charges his son Cemal, recently discharged from the army, with the horrific task.

Though a dutiful son, Cemal has no taste for cold-blooded murder. Although he is conflicted, uncertain whether he is truly doing the right thing, Cemal spares Meryem. As they take flight from their wrathful family, Meryem and Cemal must turn their backs on their family and former village lives. On the run, they find refuge as crew members on the yacht of Irfan, a sociology professor who dropped out of academic life, hoping to find peace of mind through life on the water.

Clearly, Irfan represents the secular modernist impulse of Turkey. He is an educated man, who can talk to a former student wearing a bikini without thinking anything of it. Cemal by contrast, nearly goes into shock. A bit free-spirited, but no idiot, Irfan starts to suspect the rough outline of his young crew’s troubles and does his best to help them find their way.

The three main characters of Bliss are sharply drawn and well nuanced, raising it above the level of a mere issue film. Özgü Namal gives an understated, but moving performance as Meryem, a woman abused all her life, only now starting to assert herself after suffering an unspeakable trauma. Murat Han brings seething intensity to the role of Cemal, conveying the bitterness and resentment of a man forced to confront the injustice of traditions he had always uncritically accepted. As the silver-maned professor, Talat Bulut comes across as realistically flawed but deeply humane, rather than a caricature of nobility.

Oğuz and Bosnian cinematographer Mirsad Heroviç use their isolated locations to create some striking visuals. Well paced, the tension is quite acute at times, growing organically out of the story. Bliss is a film that needs to be seen by a wide audience for honestly addressing the peril faced by far too many Muslim women in world today. Even discounting the importance of its subject matter, it holds up well as a film in pure cinematic terms.

Seeing Bliss when it screens at the NYTFF on Sunday the 5th is highly recommended. The Fest runs from Friday the 3rd to Saturday the 11th at the Anthology Film Archives. On Friday the 10th, Ümit Ünal and Selen Uçer, the director and star of Ara, will appear in-person to introduce and discuss their film. They will be followed by a screening of Riza featuring a Q&A with director Tayfun Pirselimoğlu. Look for further NYTFF postings here in the coming days.