Rosewater
First screened in November 2014
Director: Jon Stewart. Cast: Gael García Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Dimitri Leonidas, Golshifteh Farahani, Haluk Bilginer, Nasser Faris, Claire Foy, Arian Moayed, Mohammed Abdel Raheem, Amir El-Masry, Kambiz Hosseini, Numan Acar, Miles Jupp, Andrew Gower, Lindsey Hilsum, Jason Jones. Screenplay: Jon Stewart (based on the book Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival by Maziar Bahari and Aimee Molloy). Twitter Capsule:
Strong on tone, theme, especially in middle. Sturdiest when striving least to be "cinematic." Last scenes tonally off?
VOR:③
U.S. films that confront contemporary politics are rare; rarer still are those with no important American figures. Keen eye on media censorship, protocols of torture. Worthy ambition on Stewart's part.
