Dariush Mehrjui is probably the only Iranian director who has found the perfect balance in making movies which are both critical and commercial successes. He has made box office hits like The Tennants and Hamoon, which also scored big at various film festivals.
Mum's Guest follows in the same tradition. It's a crowd pleaser which has also scored well with critics. The story is very simple. "Mum" ( veteran Iranian actress Golab Abdineh) has invited her newly wed niece for dinner and is worried that, being very poor, she and her husband can not prepare a meal to suit the occasion.
Help, however, arrives from a number of unexpected places. "Mum" and her husband are tenants in a large house which is also home to a number of other tenants including a medical student (whom everyone calls Doctor and who performs a hilarious "surgery" on a goldfish attacked by a cat), a reclusive old woman, a pregnant woman & her addict husband, etc. They all, however, join hands to help "mum" overcome her problem.
Mum's Guest is both a social comedy and a love letter to cinema. Mum's husband is a cinema projectionist who, together with his colleagues in a memorable scene, recite music and dialog from classic films such as Lawrence of Arabia, Duel in the Sun, and some classic Iranian movies.
The acting is universally great with Abdineeh a stand out. Highly recommended.
Mum's Guest follows in the same tradition. It's a crowd pleaser which has also scored well with critics. The story is very simple. "Mum" ( veteran Iranian actress Golab Abdineh) has invited her newly wed niece for dinner and is worried that, being very poor, she and her husband can not prepare a meal to suit the occasion.
Help, however, arrives from a number of unexpected places. "Mum" and her husband are tenants in a large house which is also home to a number of other tenants including a medical student (whom everyone calls Doctor and who performs a hilarious "surgery" on a goldfish attacked by a cat), a reclusive old woman, a pregnant woman & her addict husband, etc. They all, however, join hands to help "mum" overcome her problem.
Mum's Guest is both a social comedy and a love letter to cinema. Mum's husband is a cinema projectionist who, together with his colleagues in a memorable scene, recite music and dialog from classic films such as Lawrence of Arabia, Duel in the Sun, and some classic Iranian movies.
The acting is universally great with Abdineeh a stand out. Highly recommended.