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Movies / On DVD / Under the Skin of the City
Under the Skin of the City

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Under the Skin of the City (2003)

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Reviews Counted:31

Fresh:27

Rotten:4

Average Rating:7/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Mar 14, 2003 Limited

Synopsis: UNDER THE SKIN OF THE CITY marks the first U.S. release of a film by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, one of Iran's most acclaimed filmmakers, and widely regarded as the First Lady of Iranian Cinema.... UNDER THE SKIN OF THE CITY marks the first U.S. release of a film by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, one of Iran's most acclaimed filmmakers, and widely regarded as the First Lady of Iranian Cinema. Providing a bracingly fresh and provocative vision of Iranian urban society, the film deals with Tuba, a mother of four, who is faced with unexpected challenges that threaten her family and way of life. Oldest son Abbas works to obtain a foreign work visa, which he hopes will allow him the opportunity to better his family's lot and win the hand of a pretty office girl. To make his final payment, he sells the family home, but when his travel plans fall apart, Tuba is forced to take drastic measures to save her house and her son. UNDER THE SKIN OF THE CITY is a stirring, powerful drama, and unlike any Iranian film seen in the U.S. thus far -- it breaks apart more established representations of Iranian society, presenting us with a portrait that differs surprisingly little from one of our own. -- © Magnolia Pictures [More]

Starring: Golab Adineh, Mohammed Reza Forutan, Baran Kosari, Ebrahin Sheibani

Starring: Golab Adineh, Mohammed Reza Forutan, Baran Kosari, Ebrahin Sheibani, Mohsen Ghazi Moradi, Mehraveh Sharifinia, Homeira Riazi, Ali Osivand, Mehrdad Falahatger, Maryam Boubani, Nazanin Farahani

Director: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad

Director: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Mar 16, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Under the Skin of the City

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

No review available.

comment Comment
08/12/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

With understated skill and absolute authenticity, the film builds with enough layers that by its powerful ending, you'll feel as if you have been kicked in the stomach.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
09/05/03
Kim Morgan
Kim Morgan
Oregonian

Sometimes fuzzy in structure, the movie is also uncompromisingly realistic, taking us into Tehran offices and factories and onto construction sites.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
07/11/03
John Monaghan
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bani-Etemad's womanist bent is stark and bracing.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
06/20/03
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bani-Etemad's gift is her ability to make immediate the human struggle at the heart of a family caught in a time and place so unmoored from tradition that ritual has become cruelty.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
06/19/03
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

Strikes a melodramatic, soap operatic tone...doesn't penetrate deep enough to touch a raw emotional nerve.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
06/07/03
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Fine performances in a family melodrama that doesn't quite stand out as particularly special.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
06/06/03
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

Ms. Bani-Etemad seems to have a firm hand on the social pulse on her nation, particularly the slowly changing roles of women in a place where change is eyed with both desire and suspicion.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
06/05/03
Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A lyrical, mesmerizing look at the struggles one average Iranian family faces in their daily lives.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
05/21/03
Edward Havens
Edward Havens
FilmJerk.com

The movie might lack the artistic accomplishment of better-known Iranian movies, but it tempers its melodrama with unflinching willingness to take us inside lives that otherwise would remain remote to us.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
05/16/03
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A series of melodramatic moments that will have the audience rolling their eyes in disbelief - if they can keep them open, that is.

Full Review Source: Countingdown.com | comment Comment
04/09/03
Larry Carroll
Larry Carroll
Countingdown.com

This splendid film is no mere polemic, for Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, often called the first lady of Iranian cinema, is above all an accomplished storyteller and dramatist who understands the evocative power of sound and image.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
04/03/03
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Distinguished, like so much contemporary Iranian cinema, by the way its striking visuals and strategic use of sound tell the underlying story.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
04/03/03
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
03/28/03
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

In the process of pushing the envelope of acceptance, Bani-Etemad carries off the neat trick of presenting an involving, beautifully cast film that portrays contemporary Iranian issues in a remarkably universal light.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
03/24/03
Michael Rechtshaffen
Michael Rechtshaffen
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bani-Etemad uses practical characters and somber camerawork to tell an inspirational tale and reveal the levels of sexism in Iran.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
03/21/03
E! Online

Honored by Iranian film critics as the best film of 2001, and one can understand why without finding the film itself entirely satisfying in its voluble bleakness and expressionist despair.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
03/20/03
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bani-Etemad shows us Iranian family life from the perspective of a nuclear family, one that bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the ones we know and love.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/19/03
Maria Garcia
Maria Garcia
Film Journal International
 
 
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