Fish & Cat (2013)

A number of students have traveled to the Caspian region in order to participate in a kite-flying event during the winter solstice. Next to their camp is a small hut occupied by three cooks who work at a nearby restaurant.

Director:

Shahram Mokri

Writers:

Nasim Ahmadpour (collaborating writer), Shahram Mokri

Stars:

Abed Abest, Mona Ahmadi, Ainaz Azarhoush

5 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Abed Abest	...	Parviz
Mona Ahmadi	...	Nadia
Ainaz Azarhoush	...	Parvaneh
Nazanin Babaei	...	Shirin
Mohammad Berahmani	...	Boy
Saeed Ebrahimifar	...	Saeed
Alireza Esapoor	...	Guard
Neda Jebraeili	...	Mina
Shadi Karamroudi	...	Maral
Babak Karimi	...	Babak
Mohammad Reza Maleki	...	Jamshid
Faraz Modiri	...	Kambiz
Siavash Cheraghi Pour	...	Father (as Siavash Cheraghipoor)
Milad Rahimi	...	Shahrooz
Arnavaz Safari	...	Asal

Storyline

Based on true events 'Fish and Cat' centers around a group of students travelling to the Caspian region in order to participate in a kite-flying event during the Winter solstice. Next to their camp is a small restaurant, run by three cooks, who are just about to leave for a hunt. They are in desperate need of meat. However, there is nothing around, other than the students. Shahram Mokri's second feature combines formal experimentation with terror and a sly sense of humor, perfectly blended in this highly unusual piece of Iranian film history.

---

Plot Keywords:

one take | long take | single take | three word title | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery

---

Details

Official Sites:

IMVBox.com Official Site

Country:

Iran

Language:

Persian

Release Date:

3 October 2014 (Iran)

Also Known As:

Balik ve Kedi

Filming Locations:

Saghalkesar, Rasht, Iran

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kanoon Iran Novin

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the whole film was shot in a single take, it has flashbacks, flashforwards and other narrative techniques.

User Reviews

Time is an illusion

Fish and Cat was recently screened in Iran as part of what is called the "Art and Experience" movement, wherein independent films receive limited screening and all box- office revenue is given to the director and producers in support of such films.

I had personally followed news on Fish and Cat ever since its recognition at the Venice film festival. The movie is advertised as a slasher, and I guess that's what gets audiences all excited about the film in the first place: a number of guys running a restaurant in the north of Iran allegedly serve human meat to their customers (not the most usual theme for an Iranian film) but the movie is far more complex and layered than this simple hook would suggest.

Apart from the seemingly-impossible feat of recording a 2-hour-long movie in one take (I can only imagine how the crew felt after someone made a mistake -- and I assume there must have been at least a few), the cyclical nature of time, the recurrence of events, the eerie voice overs, the sudden shifts in tone and the elements of horror planted here and there made Fish and Cat into a cinematic treat.

Director Shahram Mokri obviously does not expect his audience to make sense of it all. Rather, he wants you to get lost in the borderlands of dream and reality, and he achieves this quite brilliantly. In fact, during the first few loops in time, I found myself trying to figure out what had just happened and at which point in the overall storyline the iterations were taking place; but after the loops occurred increasingly more often half-way through the film, I simply gave up and just waited to see where the film would take me next.

The movie can be viewed as a series of short films wrung together through the story of the restaurant and its ominous cooks, and in spite of the dissimilar themes (coincidence, loss, love, etc.), the overall product is a surprisingly coherent narrative and a successful feature-length film.