A Dragon Arrives!
Description
An ancient ghost ship, beached amid a deserted cemetery on a remote and arid island, is the site of a suspicious suicide by an exiled political prisoner in 1960s Iran. There to investigate the death is a handsome young agent of SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police, who soon finds himself confounded by cagey local villagers and rumors of localized earthquakes that swallow the dead. But things soon get far weirder than that in a story that gleefully presents itself as, at turns, a neo-noir thriller, a psychedelic folk tale, and a mock-documentary investigation by the director and his crew. Such an ambitious cinematic adventure might have proved a confused jumble in lesser hands, but writer-director Mani Haghighi—also a well-known actor in Iran, whose last feature, Modest Reception (2012), was an equally stunning puzzle-piece—ensures everything unfolds with the sureness and implacable logic of a resplendent, all-encompassing dream. Whether read as a political allegory or a high-spirited rollercoaster ride, this serpentine tale crosses reference frames and genres with preternatural ease, while mesmerizing the viewer with an intoxicating atmosphere of surreal beauty and narrative intrigue. –Robert Avila
Born in Tehran in 1969, Mani Haghighi studied in Canada, earning degrees in philosophy from McGill University and University of Guelph and a Masters in Cultural Studies from Trent University, before concentrating on a film career. A well-respected actor as well as screenwriter and director, Haghighi has appeared in notable films including Asghar Farhadi’s About Elly (2009) and Haghighi’s own Modest Reception (2012), which won Best Asian Film at the Berlin Film Festival. His other credits as writer-director include Abadan (2004); Men at Work (2006), based on a story by Abbas Kiarostami; Canaan (2008), co-written with Asghar Farhadi; and 50 Kilo Albaloo (2015).
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/207678495?autoplay=1Film Details
Language Farsi
Year 2016
Runtime 108
Country Iran
Director Mani Haghighi
Producer Mani Haghighi
Writer Mani Haghighi
Editor Hayedeh Safiyari
Cinematographer Houman Behmanesh
Music Christophe Rezai
Cast Amir Jadidi, Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Ehsan Goudarzi