Wonderfully offbeat film!

Better Late Then Never

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

First things first, the film was really entertaining. The people who made it were able to see where the story was and chase after it, my original plan had been to watch the initial 20 min of the film and leave the rest for another day but before I knew it I was near the end of the movie; and that can't be said about most films nowadays!The reason why I didn't give it a higher score is due to some national facts being wrong about Iran, apart from displaying Chris, the basketball player travelling to Iran, as a hero among iranian sheep, which having met many iranians during my life I strongly believe it couldn't have been further away from the truth. Had they left the judging aside and just shown things the way they are, so that the audience can make up their own mind the film might have just been that much better off.

Viewed at the Los Angeles Film Festival, LAFF, June 15, 2012. The eye-opener of the first weekend was a feature length documentary entitled "The Iran Job" made by German-American director Till Schauder and produced by his Iranian-American wife Sara Nodjoumi. On the surface this is the story of a year in the life of an Afro-American basketball player recruited to revitalize a second rate Basketball team in Iran and get them into the playoffs -- but it soon becomes evident that the sports story is merely the framework for a slam-dunk penetration into the paint of society in the Islamic Republic described by President Bush as part of an Axis of Evil. In 2008, the crucial political year in which Obama became president, Kevin Sheppard signed up to play in Iran. His fiends all advised against such a move but Kevin felt he wanted to try something completely new so he signed a year contract to play in Iran. Soon after his arrival he realizes that politics is a touchy if not dangerous subject in Iran so he resolves to steer clear as much as possible. His relations with colleagues and other friends soon enmesh him whether he likes it or not and the whole film becomes one revelation after another of the extent to which average people resent the repressions forced upon them by the fundamentalist Islamic Government. All this set against news clips from CNN regarding the edgy tension between the USA and Iran.Only seconds into the film we get a clip of President George Bush to set the mood: Says Bush: "The notion that the US is about to attack Iran is ridiculous ... However, all options are on the table (Audience chuckle). This is followed by a clip of president Ahmedinajad of Iran ranting against Israel and calling for its extermination. The riposte to this is a clip of Hilary Clinton, then a potential presidential candidate, saying: "If Iran attacks Israel we will attack Iran -- and we have the means to obliterate ...!" -- In all exterior shots Schauders roving camera picks up gigantic images of Khomeini and the Ayatolas looking down from walls all over the city. No commentary, but those who know Iran know that this is the Big Brotherhood watching over everyone all the time. It is obvious that the average Iranian is favorably disposed toward Americans on the personal level but one of the first images we see is a wall with a sign saying "Down with USA". The party line and the personal line are in constant clash -- Kevin is convinced that Iranians are especially fond of Black Americans, but when people expect him to be especially supportive of newly elected president Obama on the basis of color, he takes a Wait and See attitude. His doctor says now you have a black president and its your turn-- "You need a black house instead of a White House" -- a joke that Kevin takes with a grain of salt. Along the way Kevin does help the weak Shiraz team make the playoffs but this is incidental to his relationship with three young women who befriend him and, with disarming candor, reveal their dissatisfaction with the regime. Hilda is his assigned physiotherapist but soon becomes his confidante outside of work. Laleh, a friend of hers is a thoroughly outspoken critic of the regime and will later be arrested. Elaheh, Kevin's driver, is strikingly beautiful, wants to be a movie star and looks every bit the part. All speak good English but need help with words like "pissed off". As for the wearing of head scarves, all agree that everyone hates it but have to go along with it because of the law. It is illegal for women to visit mens apartments, illegal for women to travel in cars with men who are not husbands or close family, illegal for men and women to sit in the same stands at a basketball game(!) --at one point women are banned from sports attendance altogether -- it is more and more obvious that the average people, especially the female population, are not very happy to be living in an open air religious prison. The peak of religious fervor comes during the celebration of the Martyrdom of Husein, grandson of the Holy Prophet. Out on the seething streets with his friends, Kevin asks why they are celebrating all this with mourning --wouldnt it be better to celebrate the Life of Husein rather than his death -- the kind of question one does not ask in this rigidly religious society. The tension mounts until the 2009 election where popular liberal candidate Mousavi speaks out against the oppressive regime but is "defeated" in a rigged election. As the film ends it looks like things can only get worse. Neda, a women protester killed is a new martyr. Laleh has been arrested. The only ray of hope, maybe -- is that beautiful Elaheh has been given permission by her father to move to Teheran and perhaps pursue her movie star dreams.We are informed by end titles that Kevin went back for two more seasons of basketball in Iran, but there is not likely to be a sequel to his story. Director Schauder was blacklisted and very lucky to get out of Iran alive with enough smuggled footage to put together this remarkable film. If a regime change ever does come there "The Iran Job" will undoubtedly become an Iranian liberation classic. Meanwhile the filmmakers are trying to drum up the funding needed to get "The Iran Job" as widely seen as it needs to be, to help clear the currently muddled air between the US and Iran. One of the director's stated purposes is not so much to dramatize the politics of Iran as to show Iranian people in a more human light so that they are not demonized along with their government.

I had a very hard time watching the movie "The Iran Job" last night.In fact, I was ashamed of myself for ending up in it's screening. It was a disastrous work by so called Iranian-Americans who's understanding of Iran is limited to Ghormeh Sabzi and pictures of Isfahan's mosques, as well as American's who choose to work on Iranian related works, just because it's trendy these days.It was unfortunate that I wasn't informed about this movie's exceptionally low quality beforehand, so I figured I do my share of informing those who haven't spent their time and money on it yet.The Iran Job's presentation leads the _uninformed_ viewer to believe that: - Iranian men are hopeless idiots. - Iranian women have no other worries other than becoming an actress or getting married. - Iran is a ruin and a random American basketball player has it all figured out. - Iranian culture is shallow and ridiculous.Although the portrayal of a stupid public could be to some extend accurate for any subset of the _human population_, I am super annoyed that this movie is trying to make a statement that _Iranians_ are this way. And of course the movie tried to accompany this shallow portrayal with cliché and heart-warming presentation of Iranian's sense of humor and hospitality. Just so that the Iranian audience laughs and forgets that they are being immersed into an untrue and unjust presentation of their very selves.I am surprised that someone from the Iranian community actually promoted this movie, supporting a new set of stereotypes to be spread out about us and our country. I'm also annoyed that this movie has fooled people on KickStarter and gained so much funding. This is a clear example of misusage of such new platforms.We Iranians need to pay more attention to what we support. Just because a movie is related to Iran and shows pictures of Esfahan and the green revolution doesn't mean that it's something we should _pay_ for. I understand that we are all frustrated by what has been happening to us in the past couple of decades. But I do think that our ignorance and in on our words "Jav Giri" is pretty much one of the main reasons of all the difficulties we experience as a country. Please do not go to this movie and support it further. It lacks artistic excellence (as opposed to Argo) and it paints a horribly incomplete picture of Iranians and the situation in Iran.P.S. I have no idea why the movie was showing footage of Esfahan's mosques when it was telling the story in Shiraz -- I guess they were assuming people wouldn't notice.P.P.S According to the co-producer, the three women in the movie are all in trouble. Two of them have left the country and one of them has been detained and cannot leave. When I asked the co-producer why they portrayed such a horrible picture of them in this film, she said: "the women have been asked whether they want their faces to be blurred out in the movie and they have agreed not to."

It is a different take on life in Iran. Kevin Sheppard is a college basketball star turned basketball world traveler as he goes from country to country paid to play basketball. He is not good enough to turn pro but decent enough to play for international leagues. I enjoyed seeing the contrast between the official "America is evil" take that the Iranian government pushes with the kind, warm way that Kevin Sheppard is treated by the Iranian citizens. He meets some pretty Iranian women one of whom develops a crush on him and brings him home to eat with her family. He is oblivious to her interest because he has a girl friend back home. Sweet funny movie with a touch of politics thrown in for good measure.