Everybody Knows (2019)

A joyous wedding celebration in a wine region of Spain turns bad when a guest, the teenaged girl of an Argentinian family, disappears, possibly kidnapped, in Asghar Farhadi's beautifully acted, beautiful-to-look-at, absorbing, but ultimately inconsequential crime drama that spends so long on its sumptuous set-up, there's no time for the mystery except for in a series of lurching scenes in the film's final third in which the plot doesn't so much develop as the audience is perfunctorily caught up on a situation everyone except the audience (and perhaps, unimportantly, one or two other characters) already knows.

★★★☆☆

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A Separation (Jodaí-e Nadér az Simín) (جدایی نادر از سیمین) (2011)

A man caring for his father with Alzheimers, his wife who wishes to emigrate from Iran, and their daughter whose exam studies are overshadowed by the impossible choice she faces of either staying with her father in Tehran or travelling abroad with her mother, are rocked by an allegation of murder in this rivetting and oh-so-human drama from director Asghar Farhadi who fills his film with individuals close to god but separate from each other.

★★★★★

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The Salesman (Forušande) (فروشنده) (2016)

A husband and wife working on a production of "Death of a Salesman" are rocked by a home attack and he launches his own investigation to find the culprit, in this suspenseful, raw, affecting Iranian drama featuring director Asghar Farhadi's typically robust characters with deftly rendered lives, and many themes from Arthur Miller's famous play.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS