It's Winter (Zemestan) (NR)

synopsis

A small town in winter, and as one man leaves his wife, mother and young daughter behind to look for work abroad, another arrives by train--also looking for work. Charismatic and confident, Marhab has what can only be called a roving eye, and before long, he begins moving in on the other man's wife. With its unconventional anti-hero (a swaggering, ruthless bad boy, right down to his rock-and-roll haircut), its intimations of film noir and its definite sexual undertones, this is one of the most quietly subversive Iranian films made since the Revolution--and also one of the most visually superb. Its scenes of landscapes shrouded in snow, and its painterly sense of lighting and composition, render this tale of forbidden passion both stirring and unforgettable.