Women Without Men
Iranian film is usually described in terms of neo-realism, but Women Without Men (2009) is magical realism. In a story set against the turmoil of 1953—when a CIA-backed coup restored the Shah to power—the dead emerge from the grave and love spells sometimes work. The complexity of Iranian society is represented, yet the focus stays on women confronting and sometimes escaping their restrictions. The imagery of Shirin Neshat’s directorial debut is haunting.
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Shadowman
In the late 1970s Richard Hambleton painted shadow men on the asphalt canvas of Manhattan streets and—along with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring—became one of the city’s famed street artists. Unlike them, he turned his back on the gallery scene, disappeared from view and didn’t die at a young age. The Shadowman documentary finds him still alive, albeit disfigured by addiction and skin cancer, producing paintings of sublime beauty reminiscent of J.M.W. Turner.
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I Believe in Unicorns
With I Believe in Unicorns, director Leah Meyerhoff enters the private world of a pensive, dreamy teenage girl, Davina (Natalia Dyer). Composed in part from hand-held footage and home movies and making creative use of animation to illustrate Davina’s imaginative interior life, I Believe in Unicorns includes many touching moments as Davina explores sex, romance, responsibility and heartbreak. Coming-of-age stories are common. I Believe in Unicorns sees teenage life through different eyes.
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The Teacher
It’s 1983, first day of class in a Czechoslovakian elementary school, and the teacher asks her pupils for their parents’ “line of work.” The teacher starts trading with the parents—work jobs for good grades—and even sends the kids out on errands. The Czech film is a devastating satire of petty degradations under late Communism. Some of the parents and her colleagues object, but will fear of the teacher’s influence in the Party thwart justice?
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