Fish and Cat
6 /10 1 Votes
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fish & Cat (in Persian : ماهی و گربه; transliterated as Mahi va Gorbeh) is a 2013 mystery drama slasher Iranian film directed by Shahram Mokri. The film tells the story of a group of university students camping at a lakeside for Kite-running competitions, all through a without-a-cut single shot. The film was first premiered in the Venice Film Festival on 6 September 2013. The film won the Special Award in 2013 Venice Film Festival and the FIPRESCI award in 2014 Fribourg International Film Festival. In September 2015, Fish & Cat became one of ten shortlisted Iranian films for Iran's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards
Contents
Fish & Cat is inspired by the true story of a restaurant that served human flesh in northern Iran at late 90s. Iranian actors Babak Karimi and Saeid Ebrahimifar along with some other young theatre artists have acted in the film.
Many critics believe that Mokri’s screen representation is an innovative and technically impressive film. The film was screened in Iran in few cinemas like Azadi cinema complex and Kourosh Complex in Tehran and Howeyzeh cinema complex in Mashhad.
Plot
A number of students have traveled to the Caspian region in order to participate in a kite-flying event during the winter solstice. Next to their camp is a small hut occupied by three cooks who work at a nearby restaurant.
Technic
Gradually subverting a gruesome premise drawn from a real-life case of a backwoods restaurant that served human flesh, the film builds an atmosphere of tension as a menacing pair descend on a campsite where a group of college kids have gathered for a kite-flying festival. But as the camera doubles back and criss-crosses between characters in real time, subtle space-time paradoxes suggest that something bigger is going on.
Music
Mokri wanted a kind of music that combined minimal music with horror Z-movies style of music, so he asked Kristoph Rezaee to compose it.
Critical reception
Manohla Dargis from New York Times wrote: " It’s a tour de force — the cinematographer is Mahmoud Kalari, who shot “A Separation” — and as quietly political as it is brazenly cinematic."
Steve MacFarlane from Slant Magazine wrote: "The film is a game: Shahram Mokri challenges his viewers to grip parallel narrative threads in what feels like suspiciously real time, rather than to assemble or contextualize any metaphorical ones."
Alissa Simon from Variety wrote: "“A highly original, compelling feature, filmed in one long, bravura shot establishing Shahram Mokri as a distinctive talent.”