However, while Rahim and Farkhondeh’s subdued grins light up the screen, a dark cloud hangs over them in the form of his fed-up creditor, Bahram (Mohsen Tanabandeh), a print shop owner and the brother-in-law of Rahim’s ex-wife, who has a low opinion of him to begin with.īahram is just the first of several characters who try to poke holes in Rahim’s story, with more and more people casting doubt on him when the woman who claims the purse is suddenly nowhere to be found, and therefore, unable to verify Rahim’s heroism. Social media may not be the prime focus of A Hero, but it comes up plenty, and writer-director Farhadi zeroes in on the deeply flawed, deeply human motivations that often lead to such scenarios, on all sides of the equation.Ī key reason it works is its radiant ensemble anchored by Jadidi, whose eyes immediately engender sympathy whenever they light up, either in the presence of Rahim’s son, Siavash (Saleh Karimai) his sister, Mali (Maryam Shahdaei) and her family or his secret girlfriend, Farkhondeh (Sahar Goldust), with whom he shares an excitingly sweet on-screen dynamic. Dowd astutely compared its plot to Twitter’s “Milkshake Duck” phenomenon, in reference to a joke about overnight micro-celebrities in the internet age (for instance, Ken Bone), whose fame is swiftly followed by people digging up old posts and opinions to cast doubt on their moral character - justifiably or otherwise. As the film slowly builds to this eventuality, it introduces a cavalcade of nuanced characters, each at odds with Rahim (or with each other), each with their own agendas, and each brought to life through Farhadi’s measured naturalism, resulting in a quiet work that screams with piercing anxiety. This apparent sacrifice leads to a minor media storm, with Rahim and the audience seated unsteadily in its eye - a place of eerie, temporary calm - awaiting an unrelenting gust of doubters and envious spectators, who threaten to knock him off his reluctant pedestal. #It follows 2 slowly trailer fullIts winding story follows calligrapher Rahim (Amir Jadidi), an inmate on temporary prison leave who chances upon a purse full of gold coins, which he eventually returns to its owner, instead of using it to pay off the enormous debt that landed him behind bars. No good deed goes unpunished in A Hero, the latest emotional labyrinth from Iranian neo-realist virtuoso Asghar Farhadi.
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