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Crimson Gold 2003 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Jafar Panahi
NR, 95 min. (violence, mature themes) |
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Starring: Hossain Emadeddin, Kamyar Sheisi, Azita Rayeji, Shahram Vaziri, Ehsan Amani, Pourang Nakhael
Producer: Jafar Panahi
Screenplay: Abbas Kiarostami
Cinematography: Hossein Djafarian
Distributor: Wellspring Media
Released: 1.16.04 (Limited)
(In Persian with subtitles) |
Rating:
  (out of ) |
The man at the center of Crimson Gold is a walking version of apathy and lifeless abandon, simply waiting for the
right moment to end the misery. He is Hussein (Hussein Emadeddin), a pizza deliveryman in the city of Tehran, Iran,
who seems more attached to his scooter than with reality. Directed by Jafar Panahi (The Circle) and written by Abbas
Kiarostami (Iran's foremost filmmaker), the film follows steadily on the heels of Hussein's plodding existence, the camera resting intently on his every
facial expression and trite conversation. Although Crimson Gold inevitably evokes a sophomoric attention span,
its brilliant character study elicits mesmerizing moments of clarity. Driven to portray the social, economic, and
cynical divide within Iran, the film is a commentary on the everyman's struggle to find meaning and balance in a world
full of pride, deceit, and selfishness.
Hussein is flanked by fellow worker and best friend Ali (Kamyar Sheissi), part thief and part irritant, who rambles on in
unversed banter as Hussein looks on in detached silence. Hussein is engaged to Ali's sister, a woman who desires happiness
for him but who doesn't seem to recognize symptons of a deeper disease. As Hussein drifts through the city on his bike,
he encounters further humiliation and class divide. He is forced to stand outside a customer's apartment building indefinitely
as police await partygoers to emerge, arresting them for potential immoral acts such as dating and drinking. Later,
at a high rise apartment, Hussein is invited into the home of a rich man who simply needs a sympathetic ear to listen to
his irrelevant lifestyle concerns. Here, Hussein sees his anithesis in every way; his dishelved life contrasted with the opulent
excess of wealthy existence. His exposure to the "good life" only entrenches his somber demeanor.
Crimson Gold is bookended by its stark resolution of Hussein's decisive action, which entails a botched robbery
attempt at an upscale jewelry store where earlier he and Ali had been looked down upon as unworthy customers by its
merchants. This scene works because Panahi focuses his lense on Hussein's build-up to self-implosion as the film unfolds;
we sense and understand the helpless depression that takes root in his soul. By the time the startling scene comes around
again at the film's conclusion, it makes the case that Hussein's ability to abort his final solution was impossible, like a
fast-moving train that has derailed and cannot avert its impending disaster. Panahi seems to believe that life without
the hope of advancement is akin to living no life at all, and when we see Hussein recoil from society's merciless
survival of the fittest mentality, it becomes only a matter of time until the bitter end.
© 2004 Jonathan Cornwell
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 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
| Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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