Crimson Gold
directed by Jafar Panahi
screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami

        The people in Jafar Panahi’s Crimson Gold are so serious. Acting with urgency or diligence, they speak when necessary and then they talk too much, stressing or pleading the importance of their words. Even the young man with a palace-like apartment can’t crack a smile, but he does have a lot to say and is grateful when there is someone to hear his ranting and raving even if that gratefulness doesn’t translate to pleasure. Those who have fun are not free to and their fate is found in jail, arrested by soldiers as they exit a party.
        Hussein is different, though. He appears completely unbothered and silently mechanical while delivering pizzas and planning his marriage to the sister of his disparately excitable best friend, Ali. But we know that Hussein is not calm or indifferent because the first scene unveils his destiny during a botched jewelry-store heist.
       Many films would follow such an opening with a story of how Hussein and Ali conceived of and plotted the robbery; perhaps included would be a montage of social injustices or other influences on the decision to perform the crime. Instead the script, written by acclaimed filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, lays out the contents of the would-be montage as the primary text with Hussein seemingly unconcerned but doubtless affected.
      The approach to the subject matter, simply inspired by a news story read by Kiarostami, reminded me of Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, which quietly followed the mundane events leading up to a school shooting. Both films address the ignorance and impact of obscure and indeterminate elements. Crimson Gold, because of the seriousness exhibited by its supporting characters, doesn’t share that picture’s pedestrian monotony or aloofness. With the contrast between the talkers and Hussein, Panahi effectively displays the differences between common captiousness and passive-aggressive behavior.

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