Search - Donya on DVD

Quite funny and entertaining, but has some negatives

Humpty Dumpty | MD, USA | 08/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a movie of many contrasts:



1. Most of the story is an absolutely delightful

romantic comedy. Near the end it turns into a melodrama.

The conclusion is somewhat forced; I felt let down by it.



2. The actor and actresses that play Donya, the Hadji, and the

Hadji's wife, are terrific. Their performances are absolutely

natural and life-like. It's difficult to think of anyone

else playing their roles quite as well. Hadji's wife (Gohar

Kheyrandish) puts on a particularly brilliant performance.



Everyone else is horribly bad. Hadji's son and daughter and

Donya's aunt and cousin give the impression that they

were grabbed off the street and brought into the studio in

the last minute to fill their roles without much rehearsal,

direction or practice. Donya's aunt appears to be on stage in

body, but not in spirit. Donya's cousin, in a few scenes that he

appears, gives the impression that he has no clue of what the

rest of the movie is about. Near the end of the movie, Hadji's

daughter, Tahereh, refers to her own sister as "Tahereh"

instead of the correct "Reyhaneh". You'd think that someone

would have caught this during the production.



3. The film music by Alireza Lachini is creative, fitting

and beautiful.



4. The English subtitles are mostly adequate but I wish they

had been reviewed by a native English speaker for correctness,

spelling, grammar and idioms. "The car was at the door" is

translated to "the car wasn't at the door". At least in one

place "to dye" is spelt "to die". "Manhood and shame don't come

together" should be "Manhood and shame don't go together".

"To hire an apartment" should be "to rent an apartment", unless

this is a British usage with which I am unfamiliar.



In the opening credits, the Persian "Sarmaye-gozar"

is translated as "Capitalist" rather than "Producer" or

"Investor". Additionally, names don't follow the customary

English punctuation and capitalization rules. For example,

"G. Kheyrandish" is spelled as "G.kheyrandish".



5. The DVD itself is of poor quality. It appears to be a

copy of a very worn out and scratched film. The top and

bottom have been excessively cropped. There is at least

one place where about two seconds of the movie are missing.

It gives the impression of being a bootleg DVD, made by

not-so-sophisticated bootleggers.



Overall:



Despite the inadequacies noted above, I have given the movie

four stars because of the riveting performances by the beautiful

Hedye Tehrani (Donya), Mohammad Reza Sharifi-nia (Hadji Enayat)

and Gohar Kheyrandish (Hadji's wife). The movie is well worth a

view just for watching these three wonderful players perform.

Buy it. You'll like it!"