RAVING IRAN - HOT DOCS 2016 Review By Greg Klymkiw - Iranian House DJs Risk Death

To Rave Or Not To Rave?
To Die Or Not To Die?
Choices Galore for House DJs in Iran!

Raving Iran (2016)
Dir. Susanne Regina Meures

Review By Greg Klymkiw

The genuinely brilliant House DJs Anoosh and Arash create the kind of heavenly pulse-pounding sounds which raise the level of rave music to interstellar heights. The commitment they bring to their artistry is beyond obsessive which, is probably a good thing given the hypnotic beats they etch aurally like a kind of Jackson Pollock x2 on a mixing board. Then again, obsession amidst repression seems to be a life-skill that Iranian artists must have hardwired into their very DNA.

Anoosh and Arash should be stars.

And in a sense, they are, but their celebrity remains deep in the underbelly of the rave scene in Tehran, Iran. To be public in a country that views their music as unholy enough to warrant prison, torture and death is tantamount to suicide. Even working underground is enough to flirt with the aforementioned indignities of pain and eradication.

It's a wonder, then, that filmmaker Susanne Regina Meures captured their harrowing story using hidden cel phone cameras and other surreptitious means to chart an important story of creation under attack.

Given the means of production, the film is raw, ragged and grainy. This seldom detracts from one's appreciation for the picture and does, in fact, contribute to the mix of the artists' creative energy with the frustrating, maddening and often downright terrifying risks they and their fans undertake.

Iranian House DJs Anoosh and Arash risk the
wrath of Allah's self-proclaimed gatekeepers.
Allah, though, would love their music and artistry.

All around them we see armed police and willie-inducing checkpoints. Dark alleys in circuitous labyrinthine back streets and deep, dungeon-like basements are their domain - where, like the undead, all rise with the setting of the sun and scurry into their coffins with its rising. Better they should scurry into them of their own volition than risk being blasted into them from the end of an Iranian peacekeeper's gun.

The film gives us a rare insider's view of the creative process, the raves themselves and the frustrating lengths Anoosh and Arash must go in order to manufacture their album. When they're invited to the largest, most prestigious House Music Festival in the world in Switzerland, dangerous, heartbreaking decisions await them.

In Iran, making a decision might be DEADLY.

From staging a massive secret rave in the desert to the chillingly suspenseful process of leaving Iran, filmmaker Meures is with them all the way.

And so are we.

Such are the joys and sadness cinema can create. When they reflect life, as in this brave, bold documentary, it's all the more edifying.

THE FILM CORNER RATING: ***½ 3-and-a-half-stars

Raving Iran makes its International Premiere at Hot Docs 2016

OUR LITTLE SISTER + MUSTANG - Reviews By Greg Klymkiw - Mongrel Media's Must-See Sister Act - The Film Corner's Handy-Dandy *****TIFF 2015 TOP PICKS***** continue.

MONGREL MEDIA'S MUST-SEE SISTER ACT AT TIFF 2015

Our Little Sister (above)
Mustang (below)

Our Little Sister (2015)
Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
Starring: Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa, Kaho, Suzu Hirose

Review By Greg Klymkiw

When three sisters attend the funeral of their long-estranged father, they meet his daughter from a second marriage, the little sister they never met. They welcome her with open arms and she decides to live with them. For the first time in her life, she feels what it means to have family you can love and count on.

As far as I'm concerned, director Hirokazu Kore-eda (After Life, Nobody Knows, Still Walking, Like Father Like Son) has no equals in contemporary Japanese Cinema. He seems to be the one true and genuine successor to the legacy of Yasujiro (Tokyo Story) Ozu, the master of the groundbreaking tatami shots, long takes, figures moving in and out of frame, a stately pace allowing for deep contemplation of the dramas unfolding, a deep sense of humanity, a love for the properties of melodrama and an unflagging commitment to examining the intricacies of family. To a certain extent, the aforementioned Ozu grocery list of unbeatable properties seems not dissimilar to the work of Kore-eda.

Kore-eda, however, differs on two fronts. He downplays sentiment almost to the extent of eschewing it completely, but then, when you least expect it, he's not afraid of using melodrama sparingly as a legitimate storytelling tool (usually with a wallop to the solar plexus). Secondly, though Kore-eda is also primarily interested in the dynamics of family, he adds his own special thematic element, dealing heartbreakingly with the theme and dramatic action of abandonment.

Our Little Sister has got "abandonment" almost literally spilling out of its ears and he allows us to be privy to three, then four sisters filling various voids in their hearts with the love they have for each other. At times it feels like nothing much is really happening, but "it" most certainly is - in tiny, delicate and subtle ways. Kore-eda allows us time to luxuriate in each sister's unique qualities and how they play off each other.

He slowly builds to a handful of scenes during the final stretch of the picture that inspire overwhelming emotions in the hearts of its audiences. I bawled like a baby and still can't shake or forget its uplifts which are never machine-tooled, but burst forth naturally from within his film's very big heart.

THE FILM CORNER RATING: **** 4-Stars

Our Little Sister plays in the TIFF Masters program during TIFF 2015. For dates, times and tix, visit the TIFF website HERE.

Mustang (2014)
Dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven
Starring: Gunes Sensoy, Dogba Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu,
Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan, Ayberk Pekcan, Nihal Koldas

Review By Greg Klymkiw

The events depicted in Mustang are so horrific and harrowing, it's sometimes more unbearable to experience an equal number of story beats infused with fun, love, kindness, pleasurable abandon and humour since they're such powerful juxtapositions to the tragedy of the situation presented.

In a small Turkish coastal town on the Black Sea, a repressed, deeply traditional busybody neighbour spies five orphan sisters having fun on the last day of school. The innocent actions are deemed obscene. Their grandmother and stern uncle hit the roof and what should have been a glorious summer vacation turns into a living nightmare. They're immediately locked in the house, stripped of all items which could be considered immoral, informed that their education has come to an end and thrown into a rigorous indoctrination to be loyal, subservient wives. Parades of potential suitors are brought in to inspect their "wares" and the goal is to have all the girls, ranging from 12 to 16, married off by the end of summer.

The youngest sister proves to be the craftiest and most rebellious. She masterminds a brief escape for the girls to watch a soccer match, but the happiness is short lived when they're eventually caught in the act by their guardians. At this point, all bets are off. The home is then transformed into a literal prison replete with iron bars on all the windows, extra locks, barbed wire atop the walls surrounding the house and an intensified chaperoned courting/match-making process. In addition to the threat of physical and even sexual abuse, the girls are treated like so much chattel instead of individuals with minds of their own.

The first two-thirds of Mustang is so superbly directed and acted, it's a shame the screenplay takes a fairly conventional turn in its final act. What transpires comes close to negating the power of the rest of the film. Though some will find the denouement inspiring in all the right ways, it ultimately contradicts the reality of the girls' lives and offers up hope where none, in reality, would ever exist.

During one of the final set-pieces, first-time feature filmmaker Ergüven directs the proceedings with the urgent, nerve-jangling skill of a master. The suspense is virtually unbearable, but it's almost rendered moot when the yellow-brick-road to happiness rears its ugly head. Of course we want the girls to escape, but deep down we know a happy end to their short lives of freedom must surely be an impossibility. When these tables turn, it's not so much a cause for celebration, but a lament for honesty.

THE FILM CORNER RATING: *** 3-Stars

Mustang is a TIFF 2015 Special Presentation. For dates, times and tix, visit the TIFF website HERE.

HOT DOCS 2015: A SINNER IN MECCA Review By Greg Klymkiw ****

A Sinner in Mecca (2015)
Dir. Parvez Sharma

Review By Greg Klymkiw

I think filmmaker Parvez Sharma (A Jihad for Love) wins the grand prize, hands-down, for making one of the bravest films of this or any other year. Sharma is a deeply devout Muslim and required, as all able-bodied Muslims are, to make the pilgrimage to Mecca (The Hajj) in Saudi Arabia at least once in his life.

The time for him is now. He needs to affirm his faith by making this Holy journey, but he also needs to address a deeply personal conundrum of conscience. Has he been a good Muslim? Is he a good Muslim? Can he continue to be a good Muslim?

Sharma, you see, is gay.

Virtually all organized religions have a problem with homosexuality, though some more than others. It's probably safe to say that Islam falls into the more category. Uh, like, big-time more. Not only will Sharma embark upon this deeply spiritual odyssey, but it will be extremely dangerous to do so. It might well rival that of Homer's Odysseus, only in this case the Cyclops Polyphemus, the man-eating Laestrygonians and six-headed Scylla will seem tame in comparison to the deeply fundamentalist members of Sharma's faith.

He might not come back at all.

Here's the deal on the "not coming back at all" part of the equation.

First and foremost:

Hello!

Sharma is GAY!

In Saudia Arabia this is a crime and the penalties include corporal AND capital punishment.

Secondly, he is going to film the experience.

Uh, it's utterly, absolutely, completely FORBIDDEN to shoot anywhere in the Holy city of Makkah (Mecca).

This is simple math here, folks.

The results of the equation seem so daunting and yet, one gets the sense from the film that Sharma is even more convinced that this is something he must do.

The bulk of the film is indeed a profoundly moving and alternately, terrifying experience. It's also imbued with the kind of Cecil B. DeMille-like sweep, only with the "real thing" on view - not thousands of extras, nor grand, spectacular make-believe sets, but real people and real locations. Sharma takes us deep into Masjid al-Haramthe an 88-acre mosque which contains the Kaaba, a massive cube-like structure said to have been built over 2000 years before Christ by Ibrahim and Ismael.

We witness, from afar, and then right in the midst of it, tens upon tens upon tens of thousands of the faithful as they circle the Kaaba, protected by armed guards, in order to get close enough to touch it for absolution. This is surely some of the most astounding footage you'll ever see. As far as I can tell, no film has ever been close enough to the Kaaba to photograph it in all its glory. It's also plenty suspenseful since at anytime, Sharma risks being beaten, arrested and/or killed for photographing the proceedings and/or being gay, but also, because the mass of constantly moving human flesh is, in and of itself, extremely dangerous. At one point, we're even privy to what appears to be a violent stampede.

Sharma takes us, step-by-step through every single challenge of the pilgrimage: the running of the Saee (to pay homage to Hajjar, the mother of Ismail), a whole day under the blistering sun upon the plains of Arafat (to pray for forgiveness), an entire night on the plain of Muzdalifah (to collect stones) and eventually to enter the Jamrat in order to hurl stones at the massive columns representing Satan.

The film also presents a sense of outrage and even ironic humour as we bear witness to the grotesque accoutrements imposed upon this holy site by the idiot ruling families of Saudi like toilets replacing the original home of Muhammad and his first wife, the endless skyscrapers (including a garish clock tower) and - I KID YOU NOT - the MALL OF MECCA. Yes, a massive shopping mall; perhaps the largest in the world.

What's truly astonishing about Sharma's film is not just this amazing footage, but that his journey is so damn moving and inspirational. He obviously lived to tell the tale, for which we all must be grateful for, but for some of us, religious or not, Muslim or not, his trip to Mecca has the power to touch us well beyond the bravery and aesthetic of the film, but affect an audience on a deeply spiritual level.

This is what makes cinema so special. We can live vicariously through Sharma's experience, but in so doing we are also susceptible to being imbued (albeit mediated) with the holiness of Allah, or God, or whatever higher power we acknowledge.

Note: Sharma and his film have already been denounced and he has received death threats. This has forced the Hot Docs festival to provide Sharma with bodyguards. It's ludicrous. I can think, especially in the current climate of intolerance towards Muslim people, of no better way to represent Islam to all of us.

THE FILM CORNER RATING: **** 4 Stars

A Sinner in Mecca has its World Premiere at Hot Docs 2015. For info click HERE