400 Screens, 400 Blows - I Know About 'Persian Cats'

GSBot · April 18, 2010, 5:00pm

Back in the late 1990s, I became interested in Iranian cinema through some great films like Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/a-taste-of-cherry/5233/main?icid=movsmartsearch) and Majid Majidi’s Children of Heaven](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/children-of-heaven/5170/main?icid=movsmartsearch). I started to explore further, and to date I have seen nearly 50 films from that intrepid country. As much as I love them, I will admit one thing: they’re mostly about children and/or poetic realism, and they are not for people looking for a good “B” movie fix. Until now, that is: Bahman Ghobadi’s No One Knows About Persian Cats](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/no-one-knows-about-persian-cats/1435838/main) opens in limited release this week, and it may be the first Iranian “B” movie.

It’s a rock ‘n’ roll movie, specifically an “assemble the band” movie like The Blues Brothers](The Blues Brothers (1980) - Movie | Moviefone), but it has the rambling, slapdash quality of something like A Hard Day’s Night](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/a-hard-days-night/2704/main), including some welcome humor. It uses the many-band format of films like The Girl Can’t Help It](The Girl Can't Help It (1956) - IMDb) or 9 Songs](9 Songs - Movie | Moviefone), wherein the characters travel all over town to see various bands perform. But ultimately, it strikes me as something of an Iranian version of The Harder They Come](The Harder They Come (1973) - Movie | Moviefone), with a bit of a political jab.