If you want to ask which country's directors can see their love for their land and people in their works, it must be Iran.
Majid Majidi, Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, Asha Farhati... These Iranian directors are good at observing the world and experiencing life from the perspective of children. The sun, the golden land, and the colors of the picture like the fruits of the autumn harvest together constitute the unique visual charm of Iranian cinema.
(Stills from the movie "Song of the Sparrow", directed by Majid Majidi)
(Stills from the movie "The Colors of Heaven", directed by Majid Majidi)
The works of Iranian directors reveal the inseparable attachment to the family and the complex emotions of love and reflection on the land under their feet in the pain of life. Director Majid Majidi was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1999 for his film "Little Shoes", which grossed nearly one million DOLLARs in the United States and set a box office record for Iranian films in the United States.
In "Little Shoes", the little boy Ali has a poor family, in order not to increase the burden of life for his father, he and his sister share a pair of sneakers and take turns wearing them to class every day.
But the shoes were so worn and worn that even the toes had to be exposed. Ali learned that if he won the third prize in a long-distance running competition, he would receive a pair of sneakers as a prize. He practiced hard, braced his skinny body in the race, broke his shoes and broke his feet, but unexpectedly won the first place. The kid cried as everyone cheered for him, and he just wanted to win a decent pair of new shoes for his sister.
Director Majid Majidi loves to shoot children's stories. These children grew up in poverty, experienced the hardships of life at a young age, and were heart-wrenching little adults.
Recently, Majid Majidi brought his new film "Above the Clouds" to meet Chinese audiences for the first time at the Beijing International Film Festival.
The protagonists of "Above the Clouds" are no longer children, but a pair of big children who carry the burden of life.
The protagonist, Emile, is a small who takes risks in the gray area every day, and in his eyes there is nothing wrong with it. After all, with this business, it is possible to bring a better life to the family. However, this life is like a sword of judgment hanging over his head, not knowing when misfortune will come.
Life always gets worse when you think it's already bad.
In order to escape the police, Emile hid in the laundry where his sister worked, but the owner of the shop threatened him on the pretext of rescuing him and tried to invade his sister Tara. Tara seriously injured her boss by mistake, and she was sentenced to prison for it.
(Emile and sister Tara)
If the boss dies, Tara's guilt is more serious manslaughter. In order to help his sister, Emile chose to go to the hospital to take care of the "enemy".
The family of the evil boss suddenly came from afar. The grandmother who came to visit her son, with her two lovely granddaughters, spent all the money in order to pay for the medical expenses, and even sold her granddaughter's earrings, and finally had to sleep on the street.
Dark clouds hung over their lives, Emile chose to take care of the poor grandchildren, the boundaries of the dark clouds were pierced by the sun, and the long-lost light finally illuminated the lives of these ordinary people.
Good movies are good at expressing the emotions of the characters through music, so that the audience can emotionally resonate with the characters. The soundtrack of "Above the Clouds" is A. Thompson. R. Raman, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for Slumdog Millionaire.
As a co-production between Iran and India, "Above the Clouds" retains the warm and kind core of the director's work, and also incorporates many unique Indian metaphors into the film.
The image of the snake appears more than once in the film, in the director's view: the snake symbolizes life.
At the end of the movie, the hands of the heroine Tara and the little boy are like snakes, which symbolize a kind of world, and at the same time it is raining heavily outside, and the rain is an intention to conceive life, which not only symbolizes life, but also symbolizes cleanliness.
Above the Clouds is the second in Majid Majidi's "Growth Trilogy" after Little Shoes. During the live question-and-answer session of the film festival, director Majid Majidi emotionally told his creative process.
When asked about the connotation of the film's title, the director said that in Persian, the words that symbolize beauty and kindness are described as "sky and clouds", and the same is true for his own works.
(Stills from the movie "Song of the Sparrow")
In his works, children have a pair of clear and moving eyes. There are not too many plots that stimulate people's sensory nerves, and they will not deliberately create dreams. He presents life realistically, and gives people a hope that life is more than that.
Majid Majidi's work also has some immortal themes: the growth of children in the family, and the multifaceted humanity felt in growing up.
Those families who have experienced suffering are real and warm. There are quarrels, incomprehensions, complaints, but the family is always placed in a warm position, children who grow up in these families, they may not have a rich childhood, but in the subtle learning, know how to retain kindness, know how to love others.
The director's understanding of human nature is thorough, for the sake of their own interests, for a better life, people can be very selfish, even at the cost of hurting and sacrificing others. But beyond that, there is always a precious treasure in human nature: kindness and compassion.
(Stills from "Above the Clouds")
On April 16, when the exhibition coincided with the upcoming 60th birthday of director Majid Majidi, the audience prepared a birthday cake for him. The uncle with a mustache also took a photo with the little movie fans, the kind movie uncle, happy birthday ~
From "Little Shoes" 1997, "The Color of Heaven" 1999, "Barron" 2001, "The Wind Blows Willow Tree Quiet" 2005, "Sparrow Song" 2008, "Swinging Childhood" 2010, and then to this "Above the Clouds", the 60-year-old Majid Majidi has never stopped his pursuit of film expression. In his films, there are no expensive special effects, sincere faces and emotions, accurate lighting, and unique aesthetic composition, which is enough to make his works move people's hearts and leave a lasting impression in the hearts of the audience.
(Stills from the movie "Colors of Heaven")
(Stills from the director's new work "Above the Clouds")
If a person always observes children and perceives the world with innocent and kind eyes, even if he is 60 years old, he will still retain a rare creative enthusiasm and bring us more emotions with classics and new works.
(In the movie "Little Shoes", the director and the little actor talk)