Watch Fireworks Wednesday For Free

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Must See Movie...

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Blistering performances.

Much like Farhadi's other films, 'Fireworks Wednesday' also depends highly on character revelations, the powerful dialogues and sensationally grounded performances the director is able to extract from his ensemble. The movie sheds light on certain events that take place in the life of a married couple (Mozhdeh & Morteza) on the eve of the Persian New Year. The wife suspects the husband of cheating with the neighbor but as yet, she does not have substantial evidence to prove the same. How the movie juggles between the perspectives of the lead protagonists is indeed effectively done. A domestic help (Rouhi) who is about to get married enters their day and things start to go topsy-turvy all of a sudden (for reasons you might not expect!). It is pretty clear how Farhadi is a master at story-telling from a minimalist angle. His films more or less rely on how well the characters react/emote and how one event is the result of the other. Taraneh Alidoosti who plays the role of the domestic help, conveys the right set of expressions (cute and mushy when talks of her marriage pop up, but solemn when things around her start spiraling out of control!). Hediyeh Tehrani as the grieving wife acts out her role like she's literally living it. Hamid Farokhnezad who plays the husband also does a deft job (it's exciting to see how he hams it up when he's losing (rather, pretending to lose) it. Pantea Bahram as the neighbor Simin delivers a glowy performance.Farhadi is certainly a director of nerve. The fireworks (explosive outbursts) are taking place both inside the house and outside. The inside version is a startling mesh of anger, suspicion and grief, while the outdoor one is an expression of joy and celebration. How contradicting can they get! Farhadi bases almost the entire run-time of the film around (max.) two or three characters but the narrative unraveling is executed almost flawlessly that the viewer never loses track of what's going on. The dialogues are so intrinsically striking that at one point, I felt like wanting to learn Persian. Human beings are not projected as cardboard cut-outs; each one's got themselves a purpose, painted in shades of grey.Next on my Asghar Farhadi binge-list is 'About Elly'.

If we have two or three of such movies per year, that will be more than enough for our society to break down. One of the best Iranian traditions, Chaharshanbe-soori, has been shown like a dangerous street riot throughout the film and the sound of explosions is heard in all scenes. Is this really all we have in "Chaharshanbe-soori"? The house cleaner "Roohi" does nothing but eavesdropping, lying and interfering in Mojde's private life and goes happy with her fiancé at the end with no punishment for her behavior. The worst part is that the hairdresser "Simin" who is the cause of this entire scenario (beside Morteza of course) appears as an angle requesting an end to her affair with Morteza because Mojde is under intense pressure due to their relationship (as she says)!!!! So real!!! If this angel really has a heart like this why has she started this affair not thinking about Mojde but her little son who may lose either his father or mother as a result of her joy (mentioning that Simin herself has a son who is experiencing a different life because of separation of his parents). While the only positive point of the movie is that apology that Morteza gives to her wife because of his behavior in the street, Morteza believes that he has the right to cheat on his wife because she is a terrible housewife (Morteza: go and ask neighbors to see when has been the last time that they have smelled food from our home?); as no where in the movie this idea is denied, it seems to be the final belief delivered to the viewer, but is this really the solution???...

It's the last Wednesday of the Iranian new year and in the old Persian tradition kids and adults alike take to fireworks in the streets. Meanwhile in a block of apartments all forms of human emotions are on display. Mojdeh suspects that her husband is having an affair with the hairdresser in the flat next door. She feels cheated and isolated and on the eve of their departure to another country, she is having a total breakdown. A young girl who, on the eve of her marriage, has come to earn some money by house cleaning in Mojde's flat, becomes a pawn in a game of love and hate, truth and deception between all the involved parties.Chaharshanbe-soori is destined to be known as another turning point in the history of Iranian cinema. Seldom have such adult themes been treated with such depth and by acting of a quality rarely seen in Iranian movies. All the main actors here are simply magnificent. Hedyeh Tehrani has never been better. Direction, script, camera work and editing are all world class. Chaharshanbe-soori nabbed four "Iranian Oscar" awards for best director, actress, editing and audience award; as well winning the best film prize at Chicago International Film festival and Tribeca Film Festival. It's one of those movies that crawls under your skin and stays in the memory long after the movie is over.

Chaharshanbeh Soori is a beautiful movie, directed with so much subtlety and refinement, bringing the best of the actors out of them. The superb narratives and very good filming are topped with great story telling, making it a must-see and a fresh blood in the Iranian cinema.The complication of human behavior and psyche as well as the flow of the events, thoughts, and emotions, remind one of Milan Kundera's novels.The character development is really flawless, and I have never seen Hedyeh Tehrani in a better and more touching scene than the one where she is in the bathroom with her sister in Fireworks Wednesday.Great job and congratulations to Asghar Farhadi and Mani Haghighi.