My Tehran for Sale (2009) User Reviews

only the 10 percent of the truth

[poosad · 6/10 · 10 August 2011]

the movie shows only a part of the civilization in Iran,and in fact the part that does not have any special plan in their lives but to be happy at the time by helping of the drugs... if the writer wanted to show the complexity or the difficulties of Iranian people who are willing to leave their home land, then she/he should focused on normal and clean people. if I wanted to show this matters then I would go for scientists who can not do science due to their beliefs or an ordinary family who don't want their child to be educated under the abyss of the dictatorship not for some drug users and people who wants to party all nights (though they have the right)

any way the movie is well done and worth to see. and the director and casts were brave to do it.

A daring and edgy film breaking away from the norms

[nazlishadian · 18 September 2011]

I am a young Iranian film lover living in Tehran and I found this film amazing because it has dared to breakaway to move away from the norms of Iranian movies and sneaked into the reality of the lives of many forced underground and wasted in drugs and other traps. Dark side of the moon has finally found its ways in an Iranain film. The film does not hide the dirty laundry and does not sweep the dust under the carpet so some can feel comfortably numb and rest assured that all is fine. Kids in Tehran are not fine and this is what this film is about. I love this film because it has dared to reveal the reality of the lives of 'bad' boys and girls in Iran. The lives of real people who are not necessarily 'innocent' are missing in most Iranian films. Usually Iranian films are set in villages, about children, or innocent but economically deprived people. The characters in this film are not heroes or saints. They are real people made of blood and flesh but stuck in a chaotic and sick environment. In particular, I admire the contemporary structure of this film in telling its multiple layers of stories and side stories in a non-linear way. Cinematography and acting are also notable. The cinematography portrays the chaos of public life of people and uprooted underground world where many young people spend best years of their lives. This is an edgy, daring, and revolutionary film in its form and narrative. Music is well employed through out the film too. Marzieh's acting is one the best in recent years. she delivers her role passionately and makes the character look very believable. The film confuses documentary and fiction in many scenes and I personally love this technique reflecting the reality of life in Tehran today. I definitely recommend it to all.

Fiercely passionate yet carefully non-judgemental - a searing, troubling and often beautiful portrait of a character and city

[pyrocitor · 9/10 · 24 September 2009]

For those wishing to pursue cinematic alternatives to mainstream American films hitting the multiplexes each week, the most readily accessible options in terms of 'foreign films' more often than not sadly fall prey to the widespread critiques of either being faulty representations of the culture on display, or as being reducible to a misguided politically charged statement. As such, it is nothing less than a delight to discover a film which not only gives a painfully believable and desperately compelling view on its geographic context (Iran), but does so from a fresh and lively angle, and without bombarding the viewer with unnecessary or excessive socio-political pleas. Such a film is My Tehran for Sale, a masterful piece of film-making made all the more commendable through its refusal to be anything apart from what it is - a portrait of a particular niche within a largely misunderstood culture and misrepresented way of life.

Director Granaz Moussavi, who has admitted in interviews to the film being a patchwork of incidents partially fictional and partially autobiographical or real, brings an astonishing authenticity to her feature film debut. Using gritty, faded visual filters and lively, largely hand-held cameras, Moussavi's film carries an unmistakable documentary feel, making the subject matter of her film fume with even more urgent realism and credibility. But, what makes the film particularly interesting is Moussavi's chosen perspective, centring her narrative around a young performance artist (Marzieh Vafamehr), informed by traditions, yet struggling to articulate an independent identity in the midst of cultural challenges. By way of its protagonist - not only young, but far from destitute, unlike many such character studies - Moussavi's film harnesses a unique energy and life, making the work as a whole all the more engrossing.

Moussavi herself positions herself with a bravely detached directorial stance, choosing to simply present the time, place and context, and allow her story to unfold, without allowing narratorial biases to skew the viewer's take on the subject matter presented. Neither condoning the social and political structure or Iran nor disproving of it, Moussavi simply allows her story to speak for itself, with several deliberately ambiguous points, forcing the viewer to engage with the narrative and draw their own conclusions and stances. Nonetheless, a detached directorial stance need not equate to a work devoid of feeling, as Moussavi's film is anything but, delivering an emotional yield both ferociously outraged and quietly contemplative without delving too far into either extreme. However, Moussavi is equally willing to counterbalance her serious subject matter with welcome moments of life, heart and humour which provide welcome context and preventing the overall viewing experience from becoming too heavy. Nonetheless, the film's most singularly impressive aspect is its treatment of the titular city, shot impressively on location with simple yet phenomenally skilled cinematography. Through the impassive cinematic eye of Moussavi, Tehran is illuminated with a visceral and undeniably gorgeous pulse, capturing each street corner, crowded highway and underground pocket of cultural resistance with an abiding urgency and channelling its rhythm, energy and aesthetic with a near peerless insight.

Moussavi's performers, mostly non-actors, also deliver a vivid realism and simmering passion to the piece. In a highly complex and demanding role, Marzieh Vafamehr is flat out superb as a performance artist struggling with more than her fair share of adversity, showing an uncanny ability for commanding the screen without an ounce of showy grabs at easy emotion or sympathy. It is near impossible to imagine, for all of Moussavi's incredible command of the cinematic form, the film having any trace of its power and poignancy without Vafamehr's stunning performance. Despite a complete lack of acting experience (in real life, he is employed as a medical doctor), Amir Chegini supplies ample support to Vafamehr's emotional centrepiece as her Australian-schooled fiancé, carefully crafting a character hard to fully warm to but harder still to dismiss in any way - a remarkable study in balance and character cohesion.

In turns intriguing, troublesome, heartwarming and incredibly difficult to watch, My Tehran for Sale marks an ingenious examination of a way of life, and talents to watch in Moussavi and Vafamehr. Powerful and thought-provoking without making hackneyed ploys for easy or misguided sentiment, Moussavi's film should be considered near essential viewing for any with an interest in Iran or simply in compelling cinema.

-9/10

An emerging independent spirit in Iranian alternative cinema by its daring authenticity and remarkable poetic subversion

[ultragaze · 9/10 · 24 November 2011]

This debut art-house, admiringly explores the contemporary Tehran and its underground art scene focusing on a life of a young actress who has been banned from her theater work. Struggling to pursue her passion in art as well as her secret life-style in a socially repressed environment, Marzieh gets involved in some subsequent and unexpected events leading her to a point where she eventually finds herself at a decision-making dilemma regarding her survival and identity. Distancing her work from already-acclaimed Iranian exotic cinema which is mostly known by Kiarostami's masterful minimalistic portrayal of rural life, nature landscapes, deprived yet passionate children as well as Majidi's colorful and transcendental cinema of the people struggling for survival in the outskirts of Tehran, the writer/director Granaz Moussavi still applies the poetic language of Iranian cinema but in depicting the double-sided life style of the urban middle class people and their every day life's uncertainties. My Tehran for Sale has a cunning multi-layered yet non-judgmental approach in addressing a number of issues like underground life of young people, women oppression, HIV issue, secret abortions, underground art as well as immigration and crisis of identity, people smuggling and also asylum seeker detention centers all in a subtle way. Made gorilla-style with several shaky hand-held camera shots, the film reflects the chaotic nature of living experience in today's Tehran. My Tehran For Sale seems to be pushing the boundaries in terms of form and narrative as well as the theme in Iranian contemporary cinema. Some prohibited songs and musics are employed through out the film presenting a number of emerging alternative singers such as Namjoo -Iran's Bob Dylan-according to New york Times. Finally, My Tehran for Sale seems to consciously dissolves the borders of documentary and fiction in many scenes using a non-linear narrative with an open ending. These elements could perhaps remind the Iranian cinema lovers of an alloy of Shahid-Sales' uneventful documentary style filmmaking,Kiarostami's half-made style and also Farhadi's socio-existentialist interactive recent films. This alternative movie has dared to go far beyond the norms of Iranian mainstream cinema and sneaked into the blurred reality of the lives of many forced underground or exiled which has never portrayed before in Iranian cinema making it a quite daring and subversive work.

A Moving Picture of Tehran

[rosajamali · 10/10 · 25 March 2019]

Unlike many other Iranian award-winning movies favoured by the western festivals which explore either the rural life or illiteracy, tribal conflicts or poverty; Granaz Moussavi's "My Tehran for Sale" is a unique tale which reveals some secrets and mysteries behind the scene, hence it can be taken as a genuine and unswerving picture of this tumultuous, contradictory and hectic lifestyle in Tehran which portraits the conflict between traditions of the past and the principles imposed by families or authorities. Alienating the cliches of Iranian films, Granaz Moussavi takes the initiative to disclose the dark cryptic under-covered story. It eliminates the wrong illusion . The illusions usually made by other filmmakers, but what really exists here?!...Honestly speaking I have never seen Northern Tehran pictured by Western news agencies. Life in Northern Tehran is posh, expensive, trendy and full of contradictions. Girls and boys race cars, go underground nightclubs and wear flashy, heavy make- up and clothes. Compared to European standards people sound really loud here! The image is being shown and the Western camera has been accustomed to, no longer exists in most areas of Tehran! This courageous movie is opening a path to the reality behind the scene: Stealthily and sneakily crawling into underground nightclubs, young boys and girls go on dating, experience sex at a very early age, practice whatsoever's been heated and controversial in the west. The leading actress, Marzieh Vafamehr does quite an impressive job. Irreconcilable with her family traditions, challenging the guidelines dictated by the art and culture ministry, she has been drifted apart from the prevailing lifestyle. She practices performance art, sounds peculiar but been favourited by a group of avant-garde artists though unlicenced and questioned by drama administration in Iran. But the tragic life of asylum seekers is nothing new. Not a new story, this has been what Iranians made quite a reputation over,... The sudden rush of immigration, brain drain, the issues over political refugees has done enough harm to the society's growth. The film implies the current and contemporary Farsi spoken in the streets of Tehran mainly by the youth, a combination of slang and colloquial terms defying from the norms taught at schools or advertised on state TV or mass media. Some phrases and words coined and taken from high-tech equipment manuals or cyber terms used on the internet or a jargon jumbled by a salad of English and Persian as Iranian expatriates sometimes talk... Apart from the music, the soundtrack is a mixture of all possible sounds you might hear in Tehran including religious grieving sounds, the call for praying pronounced by mosques, continuous honking of the horns of cars, people shouting at one another, calling a taxi in the streets... The landscape shown for several times in the film is the view from the foothills of the Alborz, the mountainous region covering the North country, what you could see from the northern neighbourhoods if you turn back... Despite all these, the city looks vigorous, sparkling electric lamps, high-rise buildings, lengthy highways shows the contrast between modern and traditional life. The film is full of innovative moments, some frames are really gripping, the view of flowerpots overlooks from the top floor of a high-rise building paralleled at a time Marzieh feels quite devastated in love, a leaf dropping into the gutters while trekking in northern alleys of Tehran, the symbolic lantern which starts the film, street market with all its attractions and Marzieh's trekking on Tehran's night at the end. Acting's quite dynamic and dramatic, a good choice of the cast while Marzieh's low-pitched voice and pale complexion have interacted with Niloofar's vivacious laughter and sunny face. The story is told through a patchwork, dialogues follow a certain rhythm, the settings are in harmony with the language used through the film, costumes, acting , accessories are all employed with one accord.

Rosa Jamali