The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
  • Full Issues 
  • Reviews 
  • Features 
  • OUR TEAM
  • Info.
    • OUR TEAM
  • Content
    • Full Issues 
      • Issue #01
      • Issue #02
      • Issue #03
      • Issue #04
      • Issue #05
      • Issue #06
      • Issue #07
      • Issue #08
      • Issue #09
      • Issue #10
      • Issue #11
      • Issue #12
      • Issue #13
      • Issue #14
      • Issue #15
      • Issue #16
      • Issue #17
      • Issue #18
      • Issue #19
      • Issue #20
      • Issue #21
      • Issue #22
      • Issue #23
      • Issue #24
      • Issue #25 - Horror Week
      • Issue #26
      • Issue #27
      • Issue #28
      • Issue #29
      • Issue #30
      • Issue #31
      • Issue #32
      • Issue #33
      • Issue #34
      • Issue #35
      • Issue #36
      • Issue #37
      • Issue #38
      • Issue #39
      • Issue #40
    • Reviews 
      • (All Reviews)
      • Action Adventure
      • Animation
      • Biography/History
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Foreign
      • Horror
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Thriller
    • Features 
      • (All Features)
      • Bonding with Bond
      • Double Exposures
      • Essays
      • Event Coverage
      • Lists
      • New to Netflix
      • News
      • Retrospectives
    • OUR TEAM
REGISTER
@
LOGIN
Reviews
1
2
previous article
A Fresh Look At: The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2005)
next article
Five Lessons Dystopian Adaptations Teach Teens

Review: Rosewater

by Jordan Brooks on November 16, 2014
Overall Rating
6.0
THE BOTTOM LINE

While Jon Stewart's directorial debut is filled with a message of hope and understanding, its many pitfalls and genre shifts confuse and blur the message. Solid performances by Bernal, Leonidas, and Bodnia cannot withstand the weight of Stewart's film, as they are 30-minute characters written into a 103-minute film.

6.0
Critic Rating
You have rated this

Known primarily for his late night comedy news program, “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart has been blurring the lines between satire and social commentary for a over a decade. Making the transition from television to his directorial debut, “Rosewater,” Stewart does not so much blur lines, as he does completely neglect genre and tonal boundaries. In what is a mix between a gripping biography, and an inspiring human drama, Stewart cannot seem to focus himself for more than 30 minutes at a time.

“Rosewater” opens with a brief explanation of the film’s title, set to some nicely shot footage of the process behind making and “distilling” the holy anointment. We become familiar with the narrator’s voice, Maziar Bahari (Gael García Bernal), who is about to be arrested by Iranian authorities for being a spy. As a journalist for Newsweek magazine, Bahari has returned to his childhood home in Iran to cover the newest presidential election. Upon introduction to a subversive cab driver (Dimitri Leonidas), Bahari becomes embroiled in one of the most hotly-debated elections in Iranian history. Capturing some damning footage of the Iranian government using deadly force against its own, protesting, people, Bahari is branded a foreign spy, controlled by the west, and is held in solitary confinement until he is willing to admit to these “facts.”

While Stewart’s film is certainly compelling, it lacks any real punch. The film is shot in flashback, wherein Bahari recounts why he is in prison, and why he is in Iran to begin with. A garbled mix of needless exposition and some thought-provoking assertions, this “flashback” is largely unbroken and lasts for most of the first and second acts. The audience becomes acquainted with the “rational” side of Iran as Bahari interviews groups of men trying to break free of the tyranny of a religion-based political system. “Rosewater” then drastically shifts gears when Bahari is arrested. Solitary confinement and daily sessions with a “specialist” (Kim Bodnia) are pieced together with quick editing, and only linger to evoke an emotional response. While this is the most glaring shift in the film, Stewart constantly moves in and out of form, shooting some of his footage in a handheld low-quality camera, and using a CGI-enhanced mounted camera to shoot much of the rest. Apparently finding it impossible to remain abstinent from comedy (or his beloved “Daily Show”), Stewart forces moments of hilarity in the interrogation (don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good hand job joke as much as anyone, but focusing on “sensual massage” as a running joke becomes quickly tedious).

Bernal is the saving grace of the film, as his portrayal of the downtrodden and nervous Bahari is quite convincing. Able to handle an Iranian accent, and convincingly (for my culturally-deficient ears) transition from Spanish (his native tongue) to Farsi, Bernal confidently encapsulates his character. A bizarre chemistry is shared between Bernal and his captor, played by Kim Bodnia, as the two men become intimately acquainted with one another. In another solid performance, Bodnia incites hatred in his audience for his ignorance and blind devotion to Supreme Leader Khamenei. Yet somehow, Bodnia remains somewhat likable as we see him torn between subservience and his connection to Bernal’s Bahari.

Stewart looks to be much more at home with his documentary style than with the conventions of traditional filmmaking. His shots from the handheld camera and from the “point-of-view” of Bahari have an endearing and real quality that enhance the mood of the scenes. His portrayals of discovering the “satellite university,” and becoming involved with the citizens have a genuine quality that fails to permeate the rest of the work. Much more proficient with depicting real-world events, the more-dramatized factions of Stewart’s film fall short, and leave much to be desired. His comedy can be heavy-handed at times, but is made even more laborious when he mixes it with is already-tiresome “triumph of the human spirit” narrative tangent. Stewart does portray the spread of information (via television, the internet, and cellphones) rather interestingly, bringing some fresh ideas to the increasingly-stagnant visualizations of technology in film and television.

“Rosewater” is a competent, well though out piece of filmmaking, but it falls well short of its lofty goals. It shines when Stewart is able to rely on his years of experience in journalism, but ultimately fails under his forced dramatic turns and his interpretations of the more intangible side of human emotion and sacrifice.

Continue Reading Issue #29
Language

English, Farsi

Release

November 14, 2014

Runtime

1 hr. 43 min.

Genre

Biography, Drama

MPAA Rating

R

Director

Jon Stewart

Cast

Gael García Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Dimitri Leonidas

(All Reviews), Biography/History, Drama, Issue #29, Reviews
Dimitri LeonidasGael García BernalJon StewartKim BodniaRosewater
Dimitri Leonidas, Gael García Bernal, Jon Stewart, Kim Bodnia, Rosewater
About the Author
Jordan Brooks
Jordan Brooks
Jordan Brooks is a contributor to several online publications, including his own blog focusing on streaming film. Being an avid lover of film, he has recently begun diving more deeply into film history; and is working towards becoming more educated in world cinema. He currently resides in sunny California with his girlfriend and their dog (although the real film buff in the family is definitely the dog).
comments
Leave a reply
  • Jordan Brooks
    Jordan Brooks
    November 17, 2014 at 2:36 pm

    You are absolutely correct, thank you for catching my error.

    The main problem that I had with the film, and I did not articulate this as well as I should have, is that the whole thing felt forced. Stewart constantly shows flashes of directorial talent, but the film comes across like he felt a responsibility (and rightfully so, I suppose) to make the movie. It comes down to whether an adaptation’s purpose is to be an accurate and faithful reproduction of the original work, or to simply act as an interpretation of the themes and narrative. In this case, Bahari’s work was meant to shed light on the plight of journalists worldwide, which “Rosewater” only partly accomplished.

  • sj1995
    November 17, 2014 at 1:43 pm

    Kim Bodnia plays the “specialist,” not Nasser Faris (who plays his supervisor).

    Whether or not Jon Stewart integrates the humor well is another matter, but, for the record, the humor is directly lifted from Maziar Bahari’s book. This includes the New Jersey jokes and the massage scene.

Add Comment Register



Leave a Response
Cancel reply

The Focus Pull in your inbox!

Subscribe to this list, and we'll send you each week's new issue directly to your inbox. One email a week, packed with essential film writing!

Latest Reviews

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks: The 16 Best Films of 2016
 
Form and Function in Alex Ross Perry’s “Queen of Earth&...
 
Digging for Fire and Unexpected: Husband and Wife Process Parenthoo...
 
Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review

Latest Features

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
Taylor Sinople Picks: The 16 Best Films of 2016
 
Taylor Sinople’s Top 10 Films of 2015: “The Duke of Bur...
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival

Our Partners

Advertisement

FESTIVAL COVERAGE

View All
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival
 
Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review
 
Berlinale 2015: Eisenstein in Guanajuato
 
Berlinale 2015: Sworn Virgin
 
Berlinale 2015: Under Electric Clouds

LISTS

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
SNL40: A Look Back at 40 Years of SNL in Film
 
Six Must-See British Films Opening in 2015
 
Oscars 2015: Ranking the Best Picture Nominees
 
Our 26 Most Anticipated Films of 2015
Tweets by @thefocuspull
  • "Popcorn - check. Soda - check...I have a date with Netflix on Friday night." - Sherry
  • "[…] nails it.” I disagree, and frankly wonder what movies John is talking about. The original G..." - Dear Godzilla Fans: Please Stop Defending that ...
  • "[…] www.thefocuspull.com […]" - Annie Hall
  • "[…] more vibrant monologue or confrontation, like the dinner scene that comes at just the right time ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
  • "[…] of the year is also the stuff of a best picture winner. With Michael Keaton, hot off praise from ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
TRENDING ON TFP
   
Try a different filter
© 2014 THE FOCUS PULL FILM JOURNAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.