The best Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
A Moment of Innocence
7.8/10
A semi-autobiographical account of Makhmalbaf's experience as a teenager when, as a 17-year-old, he stabbed a policeman at a protest rally. Two decades later, he tracks down the policeman he injured in an attempt to make amends.
Close-Up
8.2/10
This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event—the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated the well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf—as the basis for a stunning, multilayered investigation into movies, identity, artistic creation, and existence, in which the real people from the case play themselves.
Cinema Cinema
7.4/10
This is a film about the making of Salaam Cinema by Mohsen Makhmalbaf in Tehran and it’s eventual screening in Cannes Film Festival. Viewers are introduced to the personal and professional sides of Makhmalbaf and also to the uncontrollable passion for the cinema, held by the Iranian youth.
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
8.4/10
The story of international cinema told through the history of cinematic innovation. Covering six continents and 12 decades, showing how film-makers are influenced both by the historical events of their times, and by each other.
Salaam Cinema
7.7/10
Makhmalbaf puts an advertisement in the papers calling for an open casting for his next movie. However when hundreds of people show up, he decides to make a movie about the casting and the screen tests of the would-be actors.
The Gardener
6/10
An Iranian filmmaker and his son travel to Haifa, Israel to investigate a religion that originated a hundred and seventy years ago. Youth from all over come to Haifa to join this religion, and those who serve in the gardens that surround the holy places develop peace-loving attitudes through their interactions with nature. The filmmaker shares with his son the idea that if the Iranian people had adopted a peaceful religion, Iran would not be preparing a nuclear attack on Israel, but the son believes that all religions tend to bring about destruction. As a result of these arguments, father and son separate from one another and pursue their own paths.
Stardust Stricken - Mohsen Makhmalbaf: A Portrait
5.9/10
Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf claims to have never seen a movie before making his first film. Doubtful as it sounds, this boast matches perfectly with the controversial artist's personae. Stardust Stricken -- Mohsen Makhmalbaf: A Portrait documents the work of this Iranian filmmaker. After spending time in prison for political dissidence, Makhmalbaf discovered the social potential of the cinema. Some of his projects include Marriage of the Blessed and The Actor. While creating around 20 films, the outspoken director established new ideas about the nature of his work. In this release, Makhmalbaf speaks about art, human behavior, and his evolving fundamentalist beliefs.
Joy of Madness
6.8/10
Documentary showing the backstage of production of Samira Makhmalbaf's film Panj É Asr(At Five in the Afternoon), in Kabul, after the fall of the Taliban regime. Everything was recorded with a small digital camera by Samira's 14-year-old sister Hana.
Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution
7.4/10
Today Iranian cinema is one of the most highly regarded national cinemas in the world, regularly winning festival awards and critical acclaim for films which combine remarkable artistry and social relevance. Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution traces the development of this film industry, which has always been closely intertwined with the country's tumultuous political history, from the decades-long reign of Reza Shah Pahlevi and his son, the rise of Khomeini and the birth of the Islamic Republic, the seizure by militants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and the devastating war with Iraq.
