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Shaere zobale-ha (Poet of the wastes) (2005)
Directed by: Mohammad Ahmadi
Date of birth: 1962, Yazd, Iran
Writing credits: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Music: Dalir Nazarov
Country: Iran
Language: Farsi
Color: Color
Runtime: 81 minutes
Released: 2005
Genre: Drama

Synopsis

With a spare, conceptual screenplay by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the grandfather of Iranian cinema, comes a remarkable debut from director Mohammad Ahmadi. This is an unusual fare from Tehran: a film whose intent is to steer absolutely clear of political commentary.

The protagonist, a self-conceived street cleaner-fortune teller, adeptly portrayed by Farzin Mohades, collects what others have discarded, and in so doing takes the audience on a romantic adventure in which he encounters a beautiful girl and a poet. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so they say. In this whimsical narrative, it just might be that one neighborhood’s trash is, in the hands of a silent observer, the stuff of poetry.

In the streets of Teheran, a street-sweeper-poet learns the most intimate secrets of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, when he examines their bags of rubbish. One day he finds a desperate letter from a woman. He begins to write to her and follows her every morning to an embassy where she is waiting for a visa so that she can leave the country. He nurtures romantic love without finding the courage to declare himself. From the bags of rubbish, the frustrations of the other street-sweepers, the endless queues for the visa, the malaise and concerns of Iranian society are exposed in tragicomic and poetic tones.

An unnamed young nebbish (Farzin Mohades), struggling as a street cleaner, comes across rejected poems by a housebound writer (Mohammad Eskandari) and the first drafts of letters written by a woman (Leila Hatami) to her brother. Anonymously delivering the poems to the woman's house, the cleaner attempts to win her heart by passing them off as his own.



Pic accurately catches the desperation of working poverty but Mohades' whining voice soon grates. Hatami's turn as the woman is boosted by the enchanting music of Tajikistani composer Dalir Nazarov ("Luna Papa") that coincides with the actress's every appearance. Helming and all tech credits are clean. (Summary taken from Variety)

Cast: Leila Hatami......................Girl
        Farzin Mohades..................Main Actor
        Mohammad Eskandari.........Poet
        Saber Abbar
        Faramarz Hashemzadeh
        Ahmad Mehranfar
        Eghbal fatali-zadeh
        Naghi Savari
        Mohammad Ali Dashti
        Mohammad Sharifi
        Abolfazle Shah karam
        Ataollah Moradi

More films created by Mohammad Ahmadi

Shaere zobale-ha (Poet of the wastes) (2005)

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