THE STRANGER AND THE FOG
Gharibeh-va-meh
Directed by Iranian, Bahram Beiza'i, The Stranger and the Fog is set firmly in a mythic background. A stranger arrives in a primitive fishing village, drifting ashore in a small boat, bloodied and dimly aware that he has been in a fight. The villagers look after him and he recovers; he then decides to stay and work in the village. He falls in love with a lovely young widow, Ra'na, whose husband has been lost at sea. Her brothers object, and try to force him out, but he succeeds in winning the woman. He settles down to life in the village, but slowly comes to believe that he is being pursued by warriors 'from beyond the fog'. The film reveals nothing of his origin or background, until one night, when the peace of the village is disrupted by the arrival of further strangers.
'Shot in excellent colour by Mehrdad Fakhimi, the New Iranian Cinema could have no finer calling-card.'
Derek Elley, Films and Filming
'The director has a flair for creating an atmosphere, an era, a time and filling them with an earthly dynamism and violence that is implicit in the socializing process.'
Mosk, Variety