The Lizard
(2004)
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The Lizard
(2004)
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| Credited cast: | |||
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Parviz Parastui | ... |
Reza Marmoulak
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Bahram Ibrahimi |
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Shahrokh Foroutanian | ... |
Hajji Reza Ahmadi
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Farideh Sepah Mansour | ... |
Motazedi's Mother
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Maedeh Tahmasebi | ... |
Ozra
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| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Ali Abedini |
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Rana Azadvar | ... |
Fayezeh
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Bahram Ebrahimi | ... |
Mojaver
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Cyrus Hemati | ... |
Mojtaba
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Mehran Rajabi | ... |
Shojaei
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Soheyla Razavi | ... |
Fayezeh's Mother
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Sepehr Rezanoor | ... |
The boy
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Reza Saeedi | ... |
Atef
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Naqi Seif-Jamali | ... |
Mr. Fazli
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Hossein Soleimani | ... |
Gholamali
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Reza is a petty thief who escapes jail by posing as a mullah. When he has to stay in disguise longer than he expected, he accidentally becomes the revered leader of a small-town mosque, bringing people flooding in with his on the hoof sermons featuring sexual innuendo and references to 'brother' Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Written by Michael Hayden (2004 London Film Festival)
It's rare to see a film that as much as it amuses, it also takes an angle on serious matters. These last fifteen years have seen a series of films flourishing out of the path of some very talented Persian directors, expressing their views on life, on people, on the political issues and so on, through an anthology of subjects that come to show with finesse things that couldn't be said otherwise. "Marmoolak" is one of those. Only here, the destiny of men and women of an entire country subject to the whims of its rulers symbolized here by one man (the fake cleric played with gusto and talent by Parviz Parastui) is shown not by the means of drama, but throughout comedy. And comedy is something that Persians seem to know about. To say that this film is funny is a euphemism. There is situation comedy here, and it is treated with much lightness. But if one goes farther and looks through it, one can easily capture the fate of an entire people. Works like this, in the form of a film or a book, etc, usually help change things. Let's hope this one does. Talent as they say, has no boundary.