They
say when you are on the outs in Hollywood, you can’t even get arrested in the
company town. The outlook is even worse for blacklisted Iranian director Hasan
Kasmai. He can’t even get murdered. Somebody is ritualistically executing Iran’s
most prominent filmmakers and it is killing Kasmai that nobody is killing him
in Mani Haghighi’s Pig (trailer here), which screens
during the Iranian Film Festival New York.
Kasmai
cannot work, so as far as he is concerned, nobody else should either,
especially not his actress mistress Shiva Mohajer. He might be a victim of Iran’s
thought police, but the entitled egomaniac is a hard man to like. Nonetheless,
Mohajer and his wife and family put up with him. His self-image was already
bruised, but when less talented directors are found decapitated, with the word “pig”
carved across their foreheads, he cannot help feel jealous of all the attention
they receive. Add in a stalker of Kasmai’s own and you have quite a stew of trouble.
Frankly,
Pig would be a pretty gutsy satire if
it were Hollywood-set and made. As an Iranian film that so explicitly addresses
the sort of filmmaking bans that have been imposed on Jafar Panahi, it is bold
to the point of inviting trouble. Obviously, the use of the word “pig” adds an
additional charge to the film. Mostly, it offers up some razor-sharp social
observations, but there are some legit genre elements to Pig as well.
Hasan
Majuni out-everythings Tim Robbins in The
Player as the ragingly self-absorbed, utterly obnoxious Kasmai. Yet, there is
something about his sad hound dog persona that maintains our unlikely audience
sympathy. It is also deeply compelling to watch the great Leila Hatami put up
with one darned thing after another as the long-suffering Mohajer. Ali Mosaffa
is hilarious (not a word often associated with Persian cinema) as Sohrab Saidi,
Kasmai’s shallow but infinitely more politically shrewd rival, while Ali
Bagheri is weirdly, ambiguously disconcerting as Azemat, the lead investigator
of the “Pig” murders.
It
is hard to believe this film exists at all. Although it depicts some pretty extraordinary
developments, it features plenty of telling details. Regardless of the
circumstances, it is highly problematic when a witness of interest is brought
into a police station for questioning blindfolded. Just about everyone takes it
on the chin during Pig, including the
Iranian film industry, the cops, and social media. Some of the dream sequences
look a bit cheesy, but the film’s reality is so hyper-real, it will blow your
mind. Highly recommended, Pig screens
this Friday (1/11), as part of the 1st IrFFNY, at the IFC Center.
