Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

phoenix 2 The movie is about a poet who was imprisoned for political reasons and when he was released, he tries to find his wife, Mina, in Instabul. The story itself is a very powerful story and the few lines that are used are supporting that atmosphere beautifully. Maybe it's because there are not much to say about it those things, and the persons keep their silence as a way to protect themselves from what had happened to them. The scenes and the shots are very realistic, and with the reading of the poem added over them, it gives a more poetic view on the cruel reality of the heroes. The unrealistic scenes, like the ones with the rhino, are nice, but some of them I couldn't see the meaning behind them. And there is a lot of symbolism in the film, so you have to keep watching and don't miss anything. To be honest, I didn't get the ending and some of the scenes, as they were back and forth and the ones at the ending too quick, like they were rushing the story to end. So 6 out of 10.

swifthit88 Made me join IMDb just to say if you have 97 minutes to stick with a slow burner that doesn't drag on and is perfectly balanced in all the characters , sit down to this. The scenes of hallucinatory/dreamy metaphors fit perfectly with the poetry (which I am looking for online) and the performances which relate reality to chaos perfectly. The story needs concentration though is worth effort and gives a raw and real yet still fantastical aspect to the rest of the film and the acting which is by itself very well filmed. It creates a subtle atmosphere of meditation, depression and insanity without overdoing any. A mix which binds humanity, irrelevant of politics. "Only one living on the border will create a land"

aryafsharm Presented by Martin Scorsese, 'Rhino Season' is the 6th full-length film by Bahman Ghobadi. Following his success with 'No One Knows About the Persian Cats' which earned him international recognition, Ghobadi's first non-Iranian production features an international cast. Old-timer Iranian Superstar, Behrouz Vosoughi returns to the screen after more than 20 years off the grid. He is joined by Italian Femme Fetale Monica Belucci, and a number of Prominent Turkish Actors and Actresses, namely Yilmaz Erdogan.Shot entirely in Turkey, the movie follows the ordeals of Sahel, a Kurdish-Iranian Poet, whose poems were misconstrued by the post-revolution regime of Iran as political, and landed him in Jail for 30 Years. After he is released from Jail, he travels to Turkey in search of his wife (played by Monicca Belucci) who is now remarried. It's loosely based on a true story, and the movie paints a realistic picture of a post-revolution Iran, in the hands of the vengeful servants of the Shah regime. Even Sahel's jail sentence is revealed to have had little to do with his poetry.The movie's primary language is Farsi, but there is little dialog going on altogether. Monica Belucci speaks a few lines of Farsi quite decently, but Yilmaz Erdogan doesn't do a great job. Obviously the reason behind his wasn't his Farsi-Speaking skills, but the fact that no Iranian actor hoping to keep his permission to act inside Iran, would ever consider doing a movie that depicts a half-naked Belucci. Behrouz Vosoughi's role has even less dialog, and mostly consists of smoking a cigarette in various gorgeous scenery.The locations were chosen brilliantly, and the camera work is exceptional. Several scenes in the movie are shot solely for the purpose of accompanying an off-camera poetry recital, and are perhaps of great appeal to poetry lovers.Other than that, the story unravels with a slow pace, and leaves the ending entirely up to the viewer. The acting is decent minus the Farsi accents, and the Soundtrack, while minimal, creates an appropriate atmosphere. If you enjoyed most of Ghobadi's work, you will enjoy this one too, but most people can agree that it's not his best. Nothing is particularly wrong with this movie, but nothing is particularly right either.

jeffreywadegibbs This is easily Ghobadi's best film--the metaphors and imagery pull together his other films into what is his masterwork. Very haunting, somewhat surreal-as the former prisoner tries to find his wife the events of his life are accompanied by metaphors from his poems brought to life. Bellucci is incredible. I never expected such a subdued and dignified performance from her. Perhaps one of the best scenes is when the young poet is tied up and tortured and a rain of turtles falls from the sky. Caner Cindoruk is also quite good as the young poet--and his rival and tormentor Yilmaz Erdogan is convincing as the man obsessed with his wife--despite his evil (he is the source for the poet's family's suffering), he manages to be both loathsome and sympathetic at the same time.