![Screening Log: 13 & 14 December 2011
1. We Bought a Zoo (2011, Cameron Crowe) Review forthcoming, but short version: at least it wasn’t a Jim Carrey or Eddie Murphy vehicle. [advance screening]
2. A Free Soul (1931, Clarence Brown) Fun, although Norma Shearer still isn’t my favorite. [DVD]
3. About Elly (2009, Asghar Farhadi) This Asghar Farhadi fella has got the goods. A dry run in a lot of ways for A Separation, but still potent on its own, albeit nowhere near as tightly structured. Farhadi is evidently a master at hitting audiences with leftfield dramatic turns; the major development here occurs after 40 minutes of loose hang-out and one awesome red herring. It could become one movie, but instead becomes another, much more interesting and original movie. He’s also great at eradicating Western misconceptions about Iran — as in A Separation, gender dynamics are much more progressive than you’d think — while sneakily encoding social commentary into the story’s DNA (i.e., Iran isn’t that progressive). Anyway, watch this guy.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lw9cngS1j21qzoio3o1_1280.jpg)
Screening Log: 13 & 14 December 2011
1. We Bought a Zoo (2011, Cameron Crowe) Review forthcoming, but short version: at least it wasn’t a Jim Carrey or Eddie Murphy vehicle. [advance screening]
2. A Free Soul (1931, Clarence Brown) Fun, although Norma Shearer still isn’t my favorite. [DVD]
3. About Elly (2009, Asghar Farhadi) This Asghar Farhadi fella has got the goods. A dry run in a lot of ways for A Separation, but still potent on its own, albeit nowhere near as tightly structured. Farhadi is evidently a master at hitting audiences with leftfield dramatic turns; the major development here occurs after 40 minutes of loose hang-out and one awesome red herring. It could become one movie, but instead becomes another, much more interesting and original movie. He’s also great at eradicating Western misconceptions about Iran — as in A Separation, gender dynamics are much more progressive than you’d think — while sneakily encoding social commentary into the story’s DNA (i.e., Iran isn’t that progressive). Anyway, watch this guy.
