Shockingly forthright in its view of the social and economic problems of the post-shah era, the Peddler is the film that first brought international acclaim to young writer/director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Makhmalbaf uses a different cameraman and different style for each three of his three short tales set among the poor of contemporary Tehran. The first episode follows a kindly but naÔve couple who want someone to adopt their newborn daughter. The second, an astonishing mix of absurdist comedy and the supernatural, concerns a mentally unstable man who lives with his invalid mother in a ramshackle apartment. The final section draws on the conventions of the American gangster film to show the last hours of a peddler suspected of betraying his friends. Told from the point-of-view of the doomed man's overactive imagination, it is constantly inventive and surprising.
Director
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Producer
Farabi Film
Year
1986
Spoken
Persian
Subtitle
English
Country
Iran
Length
95
Format
VHS/NTSC
Off
Description