November 21, 2024

This week the From Below Microcinema presents *The Silence *(1998) on Thursday, November 21, at 7 pm.

Here is the link to reserve a seat. Doors will be at 6:50 and we’re starting the movie at 7:10!

Last week, we had The Shout (1978)… and now… we have The Silence (1998)! Punny double feature titling aside, Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s feature shares with Jerzy Skolimowski’s effort an interest in the overwhelming, devastating, intoxicating power of sonic sensoria, despite their geographic and generational differences. Makhmalbaf, a member of the Iranian New Wave, is perhaps best known for his “appearance(s)” on-screen in Abbas Kiarostami’s *Close-Up *(1990) as the director impersonated by the conman.

The Silence is part of Makhmalbaf’s “Poetic Trilogy,” a series of striking, gorgeous films that feature his most touching and narratively ecstatic work. The film focuses on Khorshid, a blind child in Tajikistan whose aural sensitivity leads to him working as an instrument tuner. As he goes about his day, he finds sounds of all kinds mesmerizing, leading him to distraction. Like many of the best films of the Iranian New Wave, The Silence deliberates on the role of art in life and the ways in which children see, understand, and reflect the world around them.