It’s Winter

Unemotional, restrained cinematographic poem, situated in a wintry and poor suburb of Tehran. A man is dismissed and his lack of prospects for the future make him decide to seek his happiness abroad. He leaves his wife and child behind and for a long time nothing is heard of him. Then a stranger turns up, a car mechanic looking for a job. The attractive single mother can’t resist his attentions. Very subtly, a struggle ensues that reflects that of a whole generation of young doubting Iranians who may want to leave the country, but hardly know how to start.
The talented film maker Rafi Pitts refers in his latest film to classic Iranian cinema that approaches reality meticulously. Pitts also makes grateful use of non-professional actors, who often perform their normal work in familiar surroundings. His indirect way of telling the story creates space for breathless, almost painfully beautiful and timeless images. It is film making like writing a haiku, in the course of which the right chord is very cautiously struck with great precision. (KB)

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