{"id":542354,"date":"2023-01-23T04:07:06","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T01:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/joonam-review-a-scattershot-documentary-inquiry-into-iranian-identity\/"},"modified":"2023-01-23T04:07:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T01:07:06","slug":"joonam-review-a-scattershot-documentary-inquiry-into-iranian-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/joonam-review-a-scattershot-documentary-inquiry-into-iranian-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"#\u2018Joonam\u2019 Review:  A Scattershot Documentary Inquiry Into Iranian Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3e8d00000c4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3e8d00000c4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/joonam-review-a-scattershot-documentary-inquiry-into-iranian-identity\/#%E2%80%98Joonam_Review_A_Scattershot_Documentary_Inquiry_Into_Iranian_Identity\" >\u2018Joonam\u2019 Review:  A Scattershot Documentary Inquiry Into Iranian Identity<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/joonam-review-a-scattershot-documentary-inquiry-into-iranian-identity\/#Joonam\" >Joonam<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%98Joonam_Review_A_Scattershot_Documentary_Inquiry_Into_Iranian_Identity\"><\/span>\u2018Joonam\u2019 Review:  A Scattershot Documentary Inquiry Into Iranian Identity<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Sierra Urich has a documentary-ready family history, with changes rippling through the generations. Her mother, Mitra, left Iran for college in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1979, just months before the Islamic revolution deposed the Shah and put the Ayatollah Khomeini in power. Mitra\u2019s mother, Behjat, had to wait 16 years before she could leave for the U.S. too. Urich herself grew up in Vermont and has never been to Iran. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    If only the film matched the rich potential of these women\u2019s stories. In her first feature, Urich talks to her mother and grandmother and explores her own feelings about her heritage, but the documentary veers uneasily between the cultural and personal aspects, never fully examining either one.<\/p>\n<div class=\"review-summary-card\">\n<div class=\" lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-a-125 u-background-color-honey-light \">\n<div class=\"lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column u-width-275@tablet u-border-b-1@mobile-max u-border-r-1@tablet u-border-dotted lrv-u-margin-r-150 lrv-u-padding-r-150 lrv-u-margin-r-00@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-r-00@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-b-125@mobile-max lrv-u-margin-b-075@mobile-max\">\n<h3 id=\"title-of-a-story\" class=\"c-title  lrv-u-font-family-primary u-font-size-34 u-font-size-38@desktop-xl lrv-u-line-height-small lrv-u-margin-b-125 \"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Joonam\"><\/span>\n<p>                    Joonam      <\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>                    <span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase lrv-u-font-family-accent lrv-u-font-weight-bold lrv-u-color-brand-primary lrv-u-font-size-16 lrv-u-display-block\">The Bottom Line<\/span><br \/>\n                    <span class=\"c-span  u-font-size-22@tablet u-font-style-italic lrv-u-font-family-secondary\"><\/p>\n<p>    Unfulfilled potential.<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"lrv-u-line-height-large a-children-icon-spacing-none lrv-u-font-family-accent lrv-u-font-size-18\">\n<p>                            <strong>Venue:<\/strong> Sundance Film Festival (U.S. Documentary Competition)<br \/><strong>Cast: <\/strong>Behjat Samimi, Mitra Samimi-Urich, Sierra Urich<br \/><strong>Director, editor, cinematographer:<\/strong> Sierra Urich<br \/><span><br \/>\n                                1 hour 43 minutes           <\/span>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    <em>Joonam <\/em>is obviously loving. The title is a Farsi term of endearment, and much of the film reveals fraught family dynamics, that extremely well-worn <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">theme<\/a>. But there is too little <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a> and political context, the very thing that sets the family apart. The women\u2019s stories about Iran and their memories of it arrive in unsatisfying fragments. Occasionally old family photos, home <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movies<\/a> and memorabilia appear on screen \u2014 Mitra\u2019s plane ticket from Tehran to New York, video of a young Behjat and her husband on their farm in Iran \u2014 and the film would have been enriched by more of that archival material.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    The documentary begins in snowy Vermont, where Urich is trying to learn Farsi so she can communicate directly with her grandmother, who speaks just a smattering of English. Behjat is a strong presence, a tough old soul who was married at 14 and whose story is teased throughout. She is staying with the family in their Vermont farmhouse (Urich\u2019s father appearing occasionally in the background), where much of the film is shot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Mitra is the pivotal figure, the Farsi-English translator between her own mother and daughter. In one of the most revealing yet frustrating scenes, Mitra is at the hair salon, talking to her Thai-born hairdresser about their experiences as immigrant mothers. In a mention that simply flies by, Mitra says that two of her uncles were executed, her father imprisoned and that she herself still has PTSD from her days in Iran. This talky scene is intriguing yet, like so much in the film, fails to fill in the details of Mitra\u2019s memories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Instead, it leads into a more surreal section, with a montage of images, including a video of a woman who appears to be the young Mitra dancing in a Pierrot costume, photographs of her in her youth, video of protestors chanting on the streets of Iran, with Khomeini\u2019s face on banners. That impressionistic touch stands out because the film is more often mundane and visually uninteresting (odd, because Urich went to the R.I. School of Design). In a more typical scene, Mitra and Behjat sit at a small-town July 4th parade, having a conversation about the trucks and horses passing by.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    The film later circles back to the importance of Mitra\u2019s memories. Urich asks her grandmother to tell the story about Behjat\u2019s own grandfather\u2019s murder. \u201cHe was a martyr,\u201d Behjat says. Mitra explodes. She says she was traumatized by hearing that violent story as a child, and refuses to translate out of fear that telling it on camera even now will put Sierra in danger. The PTSD Mitra referred to earlier is obvious, and her visceral reaction says more than anything else in the documentary about how a harrowing past lingers. Behjat never does tell the story of her grandfather\u2019s murder, at least not on camera.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    The present danger is real. Urich tells her Farsi teacher that she longs to go to Iran, but knows it would be too dangerous today. It is beyond the film\u2019s scope to grapple with the current upheaval and women-led protests in that country. Even so, <em>Joonam <\/em>is too scattershot and distanced from culture and politics to resonate with the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> \u2014 potentially the film\u2019s greatest draw \u2014 in more than a glancing way.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"separator larva \/\/ lrv-u-border-a-1 \"\/><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" class=\"optanon-category-C0004\">\n!function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\nif (f.fbq) return;\nn = f.fbq = function() {n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);};\nif (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\nn.push = n;\nn.loaded = !0;\nn.version = '2.0';\nn.queue = [];\nt = b.createElement(e);\nt.async = !0;\nt.src = v;\ns = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\ns.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n}(window, document, 'script', 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '352999048212581');\nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/joonam-review-1235298992\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Joonam\u2019 Review: A Scattershot Documentary Inquiry Into Iranian Identity Sierra Urich has a documentary-ready family history, with changes rippling through the generations. Her mother, Mitra, left Iran for college in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1979, just months before the Islamic revolution deposed the Shah and put the Ayatollah Khomeini in power. Mitra\u2019s mother, Behjat, had to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":542355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Joonam-Still-1.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[5622,70984,137585,29333],"class_list":["post-542354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-documentary","tag-iran","tag-sundance-2023","tag-sundance-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}