Represented by my all-favorite director and producer Martin Scorsese who actually doesn't need any introduction, comes Iranian film debut - Rhino Season by Kurish-Iranian director Bahmad Ghobadi. Ghobadi left Iran in 2010 and never returned. Starring Monica Bellucci, Turkish living legend Yilmaz Erdogan and Behrouz Vossoughi's first film after 20 year of absence in the big screen, this movie is what I call pure Masterpiece! I know most of the people won't agree with me, but this film has this Nuri Bilge Ceylan's style which I admire so strongly. It's slow paced drama that covers Iranian revolution and a love story that faces hardships and tragedy as a result of this revolution.Shot entirely in Turkey, the movie follows the ordeals of Sahel, a Kurdish-Iranian Poet, whose poems were misconstrued by the post- revolution regime of Iran as political, and landed him in jail for 30 Years. After he is released from jail, he travels to Turkey in search of his wife (played by Monica Bellucci) who is now remarried. Movie also stars some of the well-known young actors like Beren Saat and popular singer in Europe – Arash Labaf. The acting in this movie is phenomenal, especially by Belucci who speaks decent Farsi and demonstrates the ideal Iranian lady. The film shows the consequences of 30 years' absence of a husband who was thought to be dead and a story of a woman who was trapped from the beginning. The ending of the movie is left entirely up to the viewer. What amazes me the most that Rhino Season was independent production on low budget and none of the actors including Monica Bellucci were paid for their work. Nonetheless, the movie turned out to be remarkable! It is a pity that this movie has not been exposed to a wider audience. Note: If to compare, this movie doesn't come close to other Iranian master-crafts like "A Separation" which was directed by Ashgar Farhadi and won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film category back in 2012. Nevertheless, this movie has a message to the audience who will understand it. Note: Bahman Ghabodi's another known film "Nobody Knows About Persian Cats" was shown in Cannes Film Festival in 2009 which is also worth watching. In one word: for someone who enjoys political dramas like "Argo" or "Munich", this movie will catch your attention easily.

This is a masterpiece, much is written before me by a friend from UK. It now falls in the coveted list that i possess of , ashes and snow, the fountain, book 1, tree of life, outside Satan, and much much much more for that if you have reached till here and found me and are hungry for true art then ping me on [email protected] . This movie is perfect do you understand cinematography coupled with aesthetics and a gloom of lost love, waiting and patience.This has it all. I am no fan of poetry but this piece it is visual poetry. I am in love with this work unfortunately there is not much cinema from this geography in India and i only get it from net. I want to watch more work like this and i guess even the director will agree what he made is heavenly. Watch it again when you feel like. The poetry is the soul. Its a sublime fabric of mystic understanding of creative life. there is a horse which enters a car window, there are turtles there is some sex which will leave you ever smitten because it is m.b the goddess herself. all in all there is no message of god here but pure art... Cheers to creative flame of life

Made me join IMDb just to say if you have 97 minutes to stick with a slow burner that doesn't drag on and is perfectly balanced in all the characters , sit down to this. The scenes of hallucinatory/dreamy metaphors fit perfectly with the poetry (which I am looking for online) and the performances which relate reality to chaos perfectly. The story needs concentration though is worth effort and gives a raw and real yet still fantastical aspect to the rest of the film and the acting which is by itself very well filmed. It creates a subtle atmosphere of meditation, depression and insanity without overdoing any. A mix which binds humanity, irrelevant of politics. "Only one living on the border will create a land"

There are so many fascinating and compelling aspects to this movie which I have now watched twice.First of all, it has nothing to do with Rhinos or indeed with Martin Scorcese. It says he presents the movie, whatever that means. He is no way involved with the directing of this movie which is directed by a man named Bahman Ghobadi who left his native Iran in 2010 and has never returned.This is a love-triangle, a husband and wife and a third party (the driver)centred not so much around the poetry of the husband but around the fixations of love of the driver for the wife and its consequences over a 30 year period. Ghobadi has publicly stated that if he were in the shoes of Sahel, he could not tell his wife he was still alive after 30 years if she believed him to be dead.This is a far more meaningful film than 'Argo' in reference to the 1979 Iranian Revolution and its aftermath but I do not think the film is really about that, it is not a political movie in any way though politics played its part in the storyline.You will want to watch the film more than once for sure - to ponder who is/was the father of the two young girls, did Sahel really sleep with one of them, how come Sahel could not recognize the man who was Mina's driver, the marvellous short scene when leeches were used to suck blood from Sahel and his associates, the prison sex scenes, the turtles scene, and what pact, if any, was horrifyingly agreed between Sahel and the driver towards the end.Bear in mind this that whereas 'Argo' was a Hollywood blockbuster produced with a huge budget,'Rhino Season' was not, an independent production on low budget and to such degree that none of the actors involved, including Monica Bellucci, were paid for their work.The participation in the film of Monica Bellucci and of the man who played Sahel is remarkable in itself. Sahel's Actor, Behrouz Vossoughi, is himself a man in exile for more than 30 years. He barely if ever speaks in this movie but his acting is evocative enough.I still wonder who Mina was meeting and the boy who rode the motor cycle, the same boy Sahel played a game with in the Cafe.It is not clear why the film is called 'Rhino Season' but there are clues throughout for the viewer to make up their own mind. Alas, Persian Cats and Turtles in two previous films is indicative of the mindset of a Director who loves animals more than people (so he apparently said anyway.'Not without my Daughter' was a while back and 'A Separation' was another Iranian movie worthy of praise. This movie is something else. It is no blockbuster but it is beautifully filmed and directed, well acted and produced and in my opinion it is a mastercraft of a movie. It is such a pity that the movie has not been exposed to a wider audience.I do wonder who the movie is aimed at. Most people outside of Iran have perhaps never heard of the Iranian Poet Sahel Fauzan and know little if anything about the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Even if they have heard of him, they know nothing of his poetry and will not readily relate reference to the title 'Rhino Season'. People in Iran will not be able to watch it inside their own country. Perhaps only Muslims or anyone associated with Islamic culture will truly understand the ultimate message of the film.Yes, it is a slow, boring movie but that should not belie the fact that everything about this movie is of the highest standard and do not always judge a book by its cover.