The Circle
International Arthouse
•
1h 31m
Directed by Jafar Panahi | 91 mins | 2000
Interweaving the travails of a handful of women in Tehran who, over the course of a single day, find themselves encroached upon in ways both subtle and pronounced by the nation’s patriarchal mores—with attention given to the difficulties of buying a bus ticket alongside those of getting an abortion—Panahi’s Golden Lion-winning third feature represents a masterful and moving expansion on the single-track narratives of "The White Balloon" (1995) and "The Mirror" (1997).
Up Next in International Arthouse
-
Kaili Blues
Directed by Bi Gan | 113 mins | 2015
Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan’s audacious directorial debut announced a major new talent. Shot in the mining village Kaili, the director’s birthplace, the film follows a country doctor who enters a dreamlike world where the boundaries between past, present, and fu... -
My Heart is That Eternal Rose
Directed by Patrick Tam | 90 mins | 1989
One of the unheralded masterworks of the Hong Kong New Wave, Tam’s high-style “heroic bloodshed” melodrama stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Kenny Bee, and Joey Wong as friends bound by ties both criminal and romantic. With shamelessly pulpy plotting, luxuriously... -
Shanghai Blues
Directed by Tsui Hark | 103 mins | 1984
This kinetic, ultra-stylish screwball comedy/historical romance/backstage musical by the inimitable Tsui—beautifully restored for its 40th anniversary—is one of the most zestily entertaining works of 1980s Hong Kong cinema. Kenny Bee’s nightclub clown and w...
