The only Iranian film that I have seen is The White Balloon, which Kiarostami wrote but which was directed by somebody else. Really captivating performance by the little girl who is at the center of the incredibly simple story (Girl Loves Goldfish, Girl Loses Money for Goldfish in Grate, People Help and/or Interfere with Money-Recovery, Money is Recovered), and the fact that it's mileu (modern Tehran) is one I'd never before seen represented on film both made it more interesting to me than it otherwise would have been.
The "art-house" films that always make me roll my eyes are the ones they show previews of at the swanky Brooklyn Academy of Music theater. They are usually in the Like Water for Chocolate or Central Station category -- epic tales characterized by mischeivous urchins, whispering narratives about somebody's iconoclastic grandmother, Steamy, Doesn't-Happen-In-America Sex and/or Fantastic, Doesn't-Happen-In-America-Magic, along with the general presumption that if you Don't Vote Republican, You Will Eventually Attend.
I sure do sound snotty there, don't I?
Posted by B T at April 23, 2001 08:22 AM