Melancholy, tender, and charged with rich symbolic power, it's a muted yet strangely fragile film that's as much about Middle Eastern womanhood as the horrors of parental bereavement.
Comment
04/03/04
Deserted Station (2002)
100
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:21
Fresh:21
Rotten:0
Average Rating:7.8/10
Runtime: 88 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: Based on a concept the director and Abbas Kiarostami developed on a photography trip together, a man and a young woman (Leila Hatami of Leila) are stranded in a remote village after their car... [More]
Reviews for Deserted Station
Top CriticClick to read the article
04/01/06
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04/03/04
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01/26/06
Top CriticIt's a simple enough setup, but Raisian packs so much into it that multiple viewings may be necessary.
07/02/04
Hardcore Kiarostami devotees may miss the master's harsher clarity, but Hatami, best known for her starring role in Dariush Mehrjui's Leila, makes her character's inner transformation both subtle and palpable.
11/30/04
The film's relaxed pace, unassuming tone, and respect for its characters all recall the films of Abbas Kiarostami, who provided the story idea, but director Ali Reza Raisian adds a slightly more dramatic and emotional edge.
04/03/04
For filmgoers who like dramas that are spare yet evocative, that focus on the subtleties of relationships, and that feature foreign settings completely off the beaten path, Deserted Station will be a masterpiece.
07/02/04
A poignant parable about the role of women in Islamic society.
12/03/04
This deeply humanistic drama is strongly reminiscent of the earlier, less self-referential films of Abbas Kiarostami.
11/19/04
Excessively enigmatic, Deserted Station nevertheless provides an allegory for modern-day Iran.
01/12/07
Kiarostami and Raisian conjure up the oppressive miasma clinging to women and kids in patriarchal Iran . . . offers startling images . . . [a] stubbornly ambiguous film.
02/18/06
It's not often you encounter a film that's simultaneously as tedious and moving as The Deserted Station.
12/11/04
A bluntly heart-tugging city-mouse, country-mouse fable from Iran.
12/02/04
Top CriticA spare plot that's 'relaxed' if 'relaxed' means that it moves as quickly as molasses climbing up a tree in January.
11/02/04
The sweet script, crisp direction and a delightful performance by Leila Hatami, as the sad-eyed wife, should put Deserted Station on your must-see list.
12/03/04
Intimate and engaging.
12/02/04
It is filled with feeling and far from sentimental or cloying, with a beautiful score enhancing the melancholia.
11/30/04
A modern gem of Iran's always interesting filmmaking industry.
04/03/04
Like all of Iranian cinema, Deserted Station is marked by unaffected, neo-realist performances, particularly by Nezam Manouchehri as the testy and uncertain husband, and Leila Hatami as his quietly sad wife.
12/03/04
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