Iranian Genre Flicks: Going By/The Pastry Girl [2 Discs] [DVD]

This two-pack presents a pair of Farsi-language films by celebrated Iranian director Iraj Karimi. First up is the filmmaker's 2002 feature The Pastry Girl. It's the tale of a couple who, though deeply in love, have been forced to stave off marriage for over twenty years given the mutual opposition of their two families. Finally, out of desperation, the intendeds make a mutual pact to commit suicide - in a highly offbeat and original manner. Next on the bill is Karimi's 2001 feature Going By. The drama echoes Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth, with its juxtaposition of road trips in four separate automobiles. The four journeys in this saga, however, take place not in separate cities, but all in the same locale - the road from Tehran to northern Iran. In each car, a different discussion transpires on the nature of life and death. Though the parties in the different vehicles never meet one another, Karimi builds striking parallels between the different occupants and imparts a unique metaphorical angle to his parallel substories.