I just got home from the theater - I saw A Separation. It's the best film I've seen this year, when it was over I actually kissed my fingers and looked toward the sky to acknowledge the film gods. I know being over earnest is a shortcoming but this is for real, the finger kissing I mean. The trailer makes it look more like a melodrama than it is. Behold a giant of a director: Asghar Farhari. A GIANT I say. I'm still absorbing it so I don't really think I should write about it but I do have one thought to share: If Italian Neo-Realism was born out of the collapse of Fascist Italy during the Italian Spring in the mid 1940's than maybe there's reason to hope much more work like A Separation will emerge (and be recognized) from the Middle East in the next decade? I really hope so.
http://youtu.be/MjTkXGRhy9w