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Movies / On DVD / Maryam
Maryam

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Maryam (2002)

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Reviews Counted:34

Fresh:26

Rotten:8

Average Rating:6.8/10

Runtime: 90 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Opening with a montage of news footage of the Islamic revolution in Iran and the exile of the Shah, set to The Cars' "Good Times Roll," MARYAM depicts the patriotic fervor and anti-Iranian... Opening with a montage of news footage of the Islamic revolution in Iran and the exile of the Shah, set to The Cars' "Good Times Roll," MARYAM depicts the patriotic fervor and anti-Iranian sentiment of America in 1979 through the eyes of an assimilated Iranian American teenage girl (Mariam Parris) who, like most teens, only wants to fit in. Her suburban existence is slightly shaken by the arrival of her cousin, Ali (David Ackert), a fundamentalist Muslim who has come to the U.S. to attend grad school. Ali reveals a terrible family secret that Maryam's mother (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and father (Shaun Toub) have kept from her. The family's peaceful middle class life is thrown into turmoil when the hostage crisis in Iran brings the bigotry in their white suburban community to the fore. Parris delivers a strong and sympathetic performance as a shy, pretty teen whose growing political and personal awareness brings on an emotional upheaval. First-time writer-director Ramin Serry has created a deeply personal film about an international crisis. His treatment of the subject is fair-minded and insightful. Working with a limited budget, he captures the specific flavor of 1979 and the universal angst of adolescence with equal aplomb. [More]

Starring: Mariam Parris, Shaun Toub, David Ackert, Shohreh Aghdashloo

Starring: Mariam Parris, Shaun Toub, David Ackert, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Maziyar Jobrani, Sabine Singh, Victor Jory, Michael Blieden, Jason Nash

Director: Ramin Serry

Director: Ramin Serry
Screenwriter: Ramin Serry
Producer: Shauna Lyon
Composer: Ahrin Mishan
Studio: Streetlight Films

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Maryam

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
01/30/02
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
10/21/02
Jean Lowerison
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/27/09
Lael Loewenstein
Lael Loewenstein
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
08/09/02
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News

It's a very sincere work, but it would be better as a diary or documentary.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
07/19/02
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

[Serry] wants to blend politics and drama, an admirable ambition. It's too bad that the helping hand he uses to stir his ingredients is also a heavy one.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
02/22/02
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
08/12/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

The picture would be better suited to public television, where its modest character will be more at home and its didacticism perhaps less blatant.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
04/11/02
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com | comment Comment
03/05/02
Jeremy Heilman
Jeremy Heilman
MovieMartyr.com

A lack of thesis makes Maryam, in the end, play out with the intellectual and emotional impact of an after-school special.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
03/15/02
Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece
Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece
PopMatters

Less about racial profiling than racial self-hatred, Maryam is all shallow afterschool special with a loathsome anti-foreign core.

Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | comment Comment
02/28/02
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
WBAI Web Radio

Serry does a fine job of capturing the climate of the times and, perhaps unwittingly, relating it to what is happening in America in 2002. But hard-to-believe plot twists force the movie off track in its final half hour.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
02/22/02
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post

A searing reminder of the relevance of recent history and of the timeless power of fiction to humanize people and crystallize sweeping events into personal drama.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
07/20/02
Chicago Tribune

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

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Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/05/03
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

This movie may not have the highest production values you've ever seen, but it's the work of an artist, one whose view of America, history and the awkwardness of human life is generous and deep.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
03/02/02
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com

High on melodrama. But it's emotionally engrossing, too, thanks to strong, credible performances from the whole cast.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
07/26/02
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post

Most impressive, though, is the film's open-ended finale that refuses to entirely close its characters' emotional wounds.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
02/10/02
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

A quietly moving look back at what it was to be Iranian-American in 1979.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
07/19/02
Ernest Hardy
Ernest Hardy
L.A. Weekly

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Greg's Previews at Yahoo! Movies | comment Comment
01/30/02
Greg Dean Schmitz
Greg Dean Schmitz
Greg's Previews at Yahoo! Movies
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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