Crimson Gold (2003)
For Hussein, a pizza delivery driver, the imbalance of the social system is thrown in his face wherever he turns. One day when his friend, Ali, shows him the contents of a lost purse, Hussein discovers a receipt of payment and cannot believe the large sum of money someone spent to purchase an expensive necklace. He knows that his pitiful salary will never be enough to afford such luxury. Hussein receives yet another blow when he and Ali are denied entry to an uptown jewelry store because of their appearance. His job allows him a full view of the contrast between rich and poor. He motorbikes every evening to neighborhoods he will never live in, for a closer look at what goes on behind closed doors. But one night, Hussein tastes the luxurious life, before his deep feelings of humiliation push him over the edge.
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This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.
Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.
Memorable, crazy movie
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
The Man in the Tea House: "If you want to arrest a thief, you'll have to arrest the world."The movie starts in a jewelry store where a man with a helmet is pointing a gun at an older man asking him where the jewels are. After somewhat of a fight, the older man manages to shut the grid on the burglar who shoots him in retaliation while bystanders look from the outside. We are then introduced to Hussein, a tall man of few words, and his colleague, Ali. Ali has just robbed a purse and discovers that there is a receipt for a jewel in the purse. Ali and Hussein work together as pizza delivery persons. The movie will follow the events that lead up to the burglary, encounters that Hussein make, his plans of marriage with Ali's sister and the constant affirmation of his social status.Crimson Gold is a very dark movie, both in substance as in colors. Most of the scenes happen at night when Hussein rides his scooter through town and only a few scenes take place during the day. If I had to describe what the film is in the fewest words possible I would have to say that it is a social critique. We see Hussein poor and we are constantly reminded of it. We see his colleagues who aim for material desires while living on their low payrolls. We also encounter rich customers that Hussein meets but they are depressed or repressed by the police. There is a saying that one can't buy happiness and this might be the lesson we, and everyone in the film, learns through this journey.Hussein is a very complex character with often very erratic behaviors and never many words of explanations. I wouldn't have guessed and I don't know if it is meant to be understood that the character is a paranoid schizophrenic, but the trivia on IMDb state the actor actually is. He seems indifferent to pretty much every situation except in few occasions when he might get really upset because a man reminds him of his social status of "poor", but he can also prove to have a heart of gold when, stuck and stranded in a street because of a police operation, he offers pizzas to everyone present. These scenes shone the most, as unfortunately, I think a lot of the other scenes were unfulfilling simply because of his lack of attention to his surroundings or to his interlocutors. He offers no judgement, denotes no pleasure or displeasure in anything.As common with Jafar Panahi's movies, the surroundings are very bare and there is hardly any music. Most of the scenes are genuinely filmed in the streets and most of the beauty or ugliness relies on the mere city, a landscape or a simple interaction.I found the overall message of the movie to be somewhat misleading like the horizons of Hussein suddenly turned black because he saw rich people are not necessarily more happy than he is. I liked dark movies and there is never a single reason to commit a crime, but given the tools the movie offered us, we are left wondering what is going on in Hussein's head and why does he do such things.I liked: A clash of sorts. Characters struggles.I disliked: Uncanny. One way. Everyone in their own bubble.62/100 A slow unfolding of what we know will happen. A very dark and mysterious tale.Read more reviews at: www.theordinaryreview.blogspot.com
A very interesting film in that the viewer really gets a feeling for present day Tehran and the social inequities, frustrations, religious oppression, etc. The main character is very understandable and tragic, as are his actions. The film is a bit too long and drags a bit where, if made by Hollywood, it would have moved quickly from scene to scene. But I liked the pacing as it allowed me to understand the character. Everything made sense. That alone was refreshing.The situation involving women, generally very handsome women, was surprising to me. I knew women were restricted, I knew that they were operating under rules imposed by some crazies, but I hadn't actually seen how this all played out. It's well done in this film, but it left me wanting to know more about the women's lives. This is a man's story, almost devoid of women. I would like to see the director deal with Persian women. I suspect he could do a good job as he seems to care and respect people.
Two unbelievable men, true humanists and visionaries have brought their minds together to create Crimson Gold and they have made universal story about social deprivation and humiliation that could be applied in any part of the world. Truly, this is an Iranian film that looks less Iranian than any other I have seen so far. The plot could be placed anywhere in the world where people live their cheerless lives, work for miserable salaries and get humiliated every day. Moreover, Kiarostami's scenario is based upon a true event.Hussein's job is poorly paid pizza delivery and it cannot provide him with enough money to buy simple jewels for his future wife, but can clearly show him that some other people do not have such problems. His customers often have fun with prostitutes, buy modern, expensive jewels from abroad, have parties in luxury apartments and obviously do not have money-related problems while Hussein and his best friend and future brother-in-law are not even allowed to enter the fancy jewels store. Simple man, excellently interpreted by Hossain Emadeddin, suffers quietly and does not share his frustrations with anyone, but in the act of pure despair decides to rob the store and steal the most expensive necklace. Like everything else in his sad life, this action turns the wrong way and does not bring any release but on the contrary, ends with suicide. The robbery is actual beginning of the film and it takes some time to realize that, in the real time, it is the end of the gloomy story as everything that happens later in the film progressively leads to the only possible ending.
from the director of "The circle" and "The White balloon" comes another revolutionary film from the Iranian cinema, there are aspects in this film that only an Iranian would understand, or someone who is familiar with the situation in Iran, and how it crosses the red line many times. The film shows the huge gap in the society in Iran between the rich and the poor, too bad that this film attracts the wrong audience, some watch this film and expect the film to continue like what it was in the first few minutes. Another factor that makes this movie so great in the Iranian cinema is the techniques used in it, there were camera works that had never been done in the Iranian cinema, refer to the scene in which Hossein was lying in his bed to see this. overall i think this was a great movie and it gets a 10 out of 10 from my unbiased point of view.