best iranian movies
by lucienobrien | created - 04 Mar 2023 | updated - 04 Mar 2023 | Publicalso includes new movies to try
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1. A Separation (2011)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini
Votes: 258,562 | Gross: $7.10M
2. A Hero (I) (2021)
PG-13 | 127 min | Drama
Rahim is in prison because of a debt he was unable to repay. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum. But things don't go as planned.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Sahar Goldoost, Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy
Votes: 29,523
3. Taste of Cherry (1997)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
An Iranian man drives his car in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he commits suicide.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Homayoun Ershadi, Abdolhosein Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari, Safar Ali Moradi
Votes: 36,776 | Gross: $0.31M
4. Holy Spider (2022)
118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad as she investigates the serial killings of sex workers by the so called "Spider Killer", who believes he is cleansing the streets of sinners.
Director: Ali Abbasi | Stars: Alice Rahimi, Diana Al Hussen, Soraya Helli, Mehdi Bajestani
Votes: 25,411
5. The Cow (1969)
Not Rated | 104 min | Drama
An old villager deeply in love with his cow goes to the capital for a while. While he's there, the cow dies and now the villagers are afraid of his possible reaction to it when he returns.
Director: Dariush Mehrjui | Stars: Ezzatolah Entezami, Mahin Shahabi, Ali Nasirian, Jamshid Mashayekhi
Votes: 7,988
6. Hamoun (1990)
Not Rated | 120 min | Drama
Hamoon's wife is leaving him. He is also unsuccessfully trying to finish his Ph. D. thesis. He is forced to reexamine his life. In a series of flashbacks and dreams, Hamoon tries to figure out what he did wrong.
Director: Dariush Mehrjui | Stars: Khosro Shakibai, Ezzatolah Entezami, Hossein Sarshar, Bita Farahi
Votes: 7,245
7. Mother (1990)
108 min | Drama
How a mother acts in the hardest parts of her, and her children's lives.
Director: Ali Hatami | Stars: Rogheyeh Chehreh-Azad, Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farimah Farjami, Amin Tarokh
Votes: 5,098
8. And Life Goes On (1992)
Not Rated | 95 min | Adventure, Drama
A director and his son return to a region damaged by the Guilan earthquake, hoping to find the children who appeared in his film a few years earlier.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Farhad Kheradmand, Pouya Payvar, Behrouz Abedini, Shahin Abzan
Votes: 7,465
9. Close-Up (1990)
Not Rated | 98 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The true story of Hossain Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonated the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to convince a family they would star in his so-called new film.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Hossain Sabzian, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abolfazl Ahankhah, Mehrdad Ahankhah
Votes: 23,020 | Gross: $0.00M
10. Where Is the Friend's House? (1987)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama, Family
Eight-year-old Ahmed has mistakenly taken his friend Mohammad's notebook. He wants to return it, or else his friend will be expelled from school. The boy determinedly sets out to find Mohammad's home in the neighbouring village.
Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Babek Ahmed Poor, Ahmed Ahmed Poor, Khodabakhsh Defaei, Iran Outari
Votes: 18,708
11. Bashu, the Little Stranger (1989)
120 min | Drama, War
An Iranian boy is lost after fleeing home for his life; his family has been killed during the Iran-Iraq war. He's saved and trained by a middle-aged woman.
Director: Bahram Beyzaie | Stars: Susan Taslimi, Parviz Poorhosseini, Adnan Afravian, Golshan Anooshe
Votes: 3,204
12. The Salesman (2016)
PG-13 | 124 min | Drama, Thriller
While Ranaa and Emad, a married couple, are participating in a production of "Death of a Salesman," she is assaulted in their new home, which leaves him determined to find the perpetrator over his wife's traumatized objections.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Mina Sadati, Babak Karimi
Votes: 64,720 | Gross: $2.40M
13. The Deer (1974)
120 min | Drama
The Deer is a typical Kimiai-style tale of friendship and honour. When a good man fallen on hard times meets his erstwhile protégé, fate puts their relationship to the ultimate test: will you die for me?
Director: Masud Kimiai | Stars: Behrouz Vossoughi, Faramarz Gharibian, Nosrat Partovi, Parviz Fanizadeh
Votes: 2,948
14. Killing Mad Dogs (2001)
135 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
While the post-revolution frenzy is at its peak in Iran, a woman attempts to help her secretive husband out of jail by settling his debts for him on her own.
Director: Bahram Beyzaie | Stars: Mozhdeh Shamsai, Majid Mozaffari, Reza Kianian, Mitra Hajjar
Votes: 2,947
15. Desiderium (1978)
111 min | Drama, Romance
Desiderium lyrically charts the hapless loves of three brothers: Majid, the young handicapped brother with a deformed head who falls in love with Aghdas, a prostitute hired by his eldest ... See full summary »
Director: Ali Hatami | Stars: Behrouz Vossoughi, Jamshid Mashayekhi, Fakhri Khorvash, Shohreh Aghdashloo
Votes: 2,144
16. The Lizard (2004)
115 min | Comedy, Drama
A recently jailed petty thief disguises as a Mullah and succeeds in escaping; but has to stay in the Mullah' role longer than he expected to.
Director: Kamal Tabrizi | Stars: Parviz Parastui, Bahram Ebrahimi, Reza Saeedi, Shahrokh Foroutanian
Votes: 22,452
17. Children of Heaven (1997)
PG | 89 min | Drama, Family, Sport
After a boy loses his sister's pair of shoes, he goes on a series of adventures in order to find them. When he can't, he tries a new way to "win" a new pair.
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Mohammad Amir Naji, Amir Farrokh Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi, Nafise Jafar-Mohammadi
Votes: 80,720 | Gross: $0.93M
18. The Color of Paradise (1999)
PG | 90 min | Drama, Family
The story of Mohammed, a blind Iranian boy and his father, Hashem, who is always oscillating between accepting his son as he is and abandoning him, as he represents a burden for him, after the loss of his wife.
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Hossein Mahjoub, Mohsen Ramezani, Salameh Feyzi, Farahnaz Safari
Votes: 18,199 | Gross: $1.81M
19. Here Without Me (2011)
100 min | Drama
The story is about the world of a small family with familiar dreams and not so remarkable problems. The mother is trying to lead everything to save her family, but small events disarrange all her plans.
Director: Bahram Tavakoli | Stars: Fatemah Motamed-Aria, Saber Abar, Negar Javaherian, Parsa Pirouzfar
Votes: 4,625
20. A Moment of Innocence (1996)
Not Rated | 78 min | Comedy, Drama
A semi-autobiographical account of Makmahlbaf's experience as a teenager when, as a 17-year-old, he stabbed a policeman at a protest rally. Two decades later, he tracks down the policeman he injured in an attempt to make amends.
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf | Stars: Mirhadi Tayebi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Ali Bakhsi, Ammar Tafti Dehghan
Votes: 4,403 | Gross: $0.04M
21. The House Is Black (1963)
20 min | Documentary, Short
Set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness", of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
Director: Forugh Farrokhzad | Stars: Forugh Farrokhzad, Ebrahim Golestan, Hossein Mansouri
Votes: 5,565
22. Brick and Mirror (1966)
126 min | Drama
Hashem (Zakariya Hashemi) is a cab driver who finds an infant child in the back seat of his cab one night after he gives a ride to a young woman. He and his girlfriend, Taji (Taji Ahmadi), ... See full summary »
Director: Ebrahim Golestan | Stars: Taji Ahmadi, Zackaria Hashemi, Goli Bozorgmehr, Masoud Faghih
Votes: 887
23. About Elly (2009)
TV-PG | 119 min | Drama, Mystery
The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Taraneh Alidoosti, Golshifteh Farahani, Shahab Hosseini, Merila Zare'i
Votes: 57,171 | Gross: $0.11M
24. The Past (2013)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama, Mystery
An Iranian man deserts his French wife and her two children to return to his homeland. Meanwhile, his wife starts up a new relationship, a reality her husband confronts upon his wife's request for a divorce.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet
Votes: 50,895 | Gross: $1.33M
25. Fireworks Wednesday (2006)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
On the last Wednesday before the spring solstice ushers in the Persian New Year, people set off fireworks following an ancient Zoroastrian tradition. Rouhi, spending her first day at a new job, finds herself in the midst of a different kind of fireworks -- a domestic dispute between her new boss and his wife.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Hediyeh Tehrani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Hamid Farrokhnezhad, Pantea Bahram
Votes: 13,490
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