by Luanne Paul King

The Song of Sparrows

Majid Majidi wrote and directed this beguiling drama about a rural Iranian family headed by Karim (Reza Naji), a loving, hardworking father and husband. Karim supports his clan by working on an ostrich farm. When one of the valuable ostriches runs away, Karim gets blamed. He devises clever ruses to track and capture the bird, but when they don’t succeed, he is fired.

Another pressing problem is the  need to get his daughter’s hearing aid    repaired. Karim heads to Tehran on his motorbike. He’s unfamiliar with the city’s motorbike taxis — the best way to snake through the heavy traffic. A businessman leaps on Karim’s motorbike and tells him where to go; Karim is surprised when the man pays him. Right away the taxi gig provides needed income.

I was impressed how quickly Karim honed his urban driving skills. However, the nerve-wracking pace of city people wheeling and dealing and the harrowing traffic soon change him. At home, Karim becomes grumpy and uncharacteristically patriarchal.

When a big pile of junk near his house topples over, Karim’s leg is badly injured and he’s bedridden. I was very moved to see relatives and friends bonding together to help his family.

Karim’s wife and daughter create artisan projects to earn money. Karim’s young son and his friends create a fish farm scheme. I wondered if Karim, disabled and aging, would have confidence in his wife and daughter’s ability to run their household. Viewers will be surprised. The film has great performances by an outstanding cast — including the renegade ostrich!

Rated PG.

Chéri

Inspired by a pair of novels the French author Colette wrote in the 1920s, Christopher Hampton wrote the screenplay for the film Chéri. Stephen Frears artfully directed the story, which is set in belle epoque Paris, just before World War I.

Léa de Lonval (Michelle Pfeiffer) is a beautiful and wealthy courtesan who looks younger than her actual age of 49. As a courtesan, her social life is limited to her clients and other courtesans. One of those courtesans, Charlotte Peloux (Kathy Bates) has a 19-year-old son Fred, known as Chéri (Rupert Friend). Léa has known him since his childhood. Charlotte asks Léa to teach Chéri how to make love. That supposedly short-term education lasts six years because Léa and Chéri fall in love, a first for Léa!

One day, Charlotte, who wants a grandchild, announces she has found a wonderful wife for her son. Chéri dutifully marries lovely Edmée (Felicity Jones). But soon, Chéri comes back to Léa, cavalierly assuming she would continue being his mistress. Léa refuses; they quarrel and separate.

I found it difficult to empathize with any of the characters other than Léa, whose inner turmoil and transcendent beauty are compelling. One afternoon,   Léa holds a rose in her hand, watching the petals fly away one by one in a breeze. With Pfeiffer’s wondrous acting, this felt  so right — not like a cliché. Later, looking straight at us, she declares, “I am old.” Her luminous eyes are steady. A narrator announces World War I has started. What does he say about Chéri?

Rated R.