Critics hail ‘magical realism’ in Iranian movie ‘Careless Crime’

American critics have hailed Iranian feature ‘Careless Crime’ as a puzzling movie with “magical realism”.

‘Careless Crime’, Iranian filmmaker Shahram Mokri’s third feature film, is about four people who decide to burn a cinema packed with people.

Referring to Mokri’s second feature film ‘Fish and Cat’, which is a black-and-white single-take movie with a twisty plot, a review published on David Bordwell's Website on Cinema said “‘Careless Crime’ is even trickier than ‘Fish and Cat’”.

“It’s one of those puzzling films that requires the spectator to figure out the time frames of the different plot threads – and indeed how many times frames there are – and keep track of many characters,” the review reads.

It further said “There’s a good deal of magical realism in Careless Crime”, referring to the use of single long takes.

Moreover, it said there was “a good deal of self-conscious humor in ‘Careless Crime’. Little jokes are made about movies, and especially arty ones."

‘Careless Crime’ was presented at the Orizzonti (Horizons) Competition of the 77th Venice International Film Festival in Italy earlier this month.

It received an Independent Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award for Best Screenplay on the sidelines of the main festival.

SQ/MG