Negligence

Set in a post-WWII Iran, Ali Kasmaie’s tale of a good man gone bad: an alcoholic and gambling addict who loses his fortune, is a fabulous mix of noir and tearjerker, offering glimpses of a gritty and pulsating Tehran.

Here’s one film from which we get to see scenes in Saeed Nouri’s Tehran, An Unfinished History, a work of great importance by one of classical Iranian cinema’s most intriguing figures: Ali Kasmaie. A journalist before he became a screenwriter and occasional director for less than a decade, Kasmaie found his true calling later as a dubbing artist – Iran’s first. 

Negligence was Kasmaie’s directorial debut and certainly exudes the charm’s of a reporter’s movie: the story of a good man gone bad who loses everything shines in a raging purple. The way he shows his downfall and deliverance mixes noir and tearjerker in a fabulous fashion. The film’s grit, though, is to be found in its extensive scenes shot on the streets of Tehran, in quite a few moments obviously without worrying about bureaucratic bagatelles like permits, which now offer us glimpses of the city as it really pulsated. This is one of IFFR 25’s treats not to be missed, for who knows when Negligence will again play at a cinema near you!

– Olaf Möller

Trailer

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