"Crimson Gold" (Talaye sorkh)
A large man wearing a ski mask rushes the owner of an exclusive jewelry store and threatens him at gunpoint, pushing the jeweler off camera. A shot rings out, a car alarm sounds and a crowd gathers. The robber, in silhouette, stands at the door of the jeweler's and the crowd nervously draws back. Suddenly, he puts the gun to his head and...this is the beginning of Iranian director Jafar Pinahi's "Crimson Gold."
Pinahi, working a script by Iranian film maestro Abbas Kiarostami, tells the story of its taciturn pizza delivery guy. Hussein (Hossain Emadeddin), overweight for medical reasons, struggles to make ends meet. He is engaged to his friend, Ali's (Kamyar Sheisi), sister but he can't even afford the simplest ring for his bride (Azita Reyeji). When Ali finds an expensive purse they go though its contents and Hussein finds a receipt for a necklace worth 75 millions rials - more money than Hussein or Ali will ever see in their life. In fact, they are so destitute that Hussein's fiancee suggests they rent the ring for the marriage ceremony - for appearance sake.
As Hussein goes about his delivery routine he becomes increasingly cognizant of the disparity between his life and circumstance and those to whom he delivers his pizzas. He realizes that Iran is a country of haves and have nots and he is one of the latter. One day Hussein, his bride to be and Ali get dressed up in their finest and visit the jewelry store from the receipt. The owner of the exclusive uptown store spots them as posers right away and advises them to go to a more "affordable" store in the poorer part of town. Thus humiliated, Hussein decides to take economic matters into his own hands and "Crimson Gold" comes full circle.
This is a simple story about a simple man trying to get by in modern day Iran. Hussein has seen his country undergo enormous changes over the years. Much younger Ali questions him about a time when "women went around naked" (without veils) and Hussein realizes how bottom of the barrel his life is. His desperate life calls for desperate measures.
Pinahi keeps things moving with Hussein shuttling around the city on his delivery motorcycle. Lenser Hossein Djafarian keeps his camera mobile with Hussein often framed through the small window in his bike's windshield, giving the man a sinister look that is underscored by Hossain Emadeddin's menacing girth and ever-present scowl. The director, with his simple tale, underscores the economic disparity in Iran and its emotional impact on a person like Hussein with an unblinking eye.
Iran has developed one of the world's most thriving independent film industries that consistently turns out good, sometime great product. Jafar Panahi's "Crimson Gold" is a worthy entry into the pantheon of that country's contribution to the art of filmmaking. I give it a B.
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