Crimson Gold
A rich collaboration between two Iranian cinematic masters, Jafar Panahi’s hard-hitting crime drama is based on an Abbas Kiarostami screenplay. Panahi makes a bold choice by casting a non-professional leading man, the paranoid schizophrenic pizza delivery driver Hossein Emadeddin, to play a fictionalized version of his real self. Opening with a bravura single-shot robbery sequence, CRIMSON GOLD then flashes back to the social, financial and mental pressures that have driven him to such desperate extremes. Casting a critical eye on Iranian society, Panahi’s unorthodox thriller won multiple festival prizes, but was inevitably banned from screening in his homeland.
Hossain Emadeddin, Kamyar Sheisi, Azita Rayeji
- Notes From Annemarie JacirI watched this when I was a film student. It came during the new wave of Iranian cinema (which I adore), but what I love here is how it turned so much on its head. An urban story, a pizza delivery, a robbery, depression and an examination of class differences in Tehran. I hadn’t seen anything like it, and it felt like a relief from the usual expectations of what cinema from “our region” (and I use the term tongue in cheek) should be. Much of the international audience has certain clichés about “the East,” and they like to see those clichés confirmed in our cinema, whether it’s poverty porn, rural stories or beaten-down women, among many other clichés. CRIMSON GOLD gives us a more nuanced picture of a city, class and modern life—not only a social critique but also a political one.