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Asghar FarhadisA Herois a drama that plays like a thriller.
But it also represents a step back in some ways.
Rahim and Farkhondeh do initially give a shot to cash in the coins.
(They need the good publicity, in the wake of another inmates recent suicide.)
Nearly every major decision Rahim makes, be it honest or duplicitous, is suggested by someone else.
Its a bank employee who advises him to put up the signs asking the owner to call him.
Later, a helpful cabdriver recommends one particular ruse that winds up backfiring spectacularly.
This lends the story a certain simplicity, bringing it further into the realm of a parable.
Farhadi remains a sharp, economical storyteller as well as a terrific director of actors.
These two figures are not just narrative adversaries but aesthetic ones.
The movie is both moral fable and narrative mousetrap.
A Herodoesnt entirely fail in this regard.
Here, too, however, Farhadi seems interested in them primarily as narrative devices.
(Again, another feature of Irans Sharia-based legal system.
But its awesome, heartbreaking ambiguity also feels miles away fromA Heros often transparent manipulations.
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