Ramin Bahrani
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“Copaganda,” Herzog and Punisher Comics: Ramin Bahrani on 2nd Chance
Richard Davis achieved redneck nirvana. The crude and quotable subject of 2nd Chance, Davis transformed in the 1970s from bankrupt pizzeria owner to small-town kingpin after inventing the bulletproof vest. The phrase “redneck nirvana” had a particular meaning for him: It meant he could suddenly afford to buy anything at the local KMart. Success soon unleashed his inner manchild. Davis devoted his leisure time to blowing shit up, burning through wives and producing straight-to-VHS movies that valorized police violence. “Redneck Nirvana,” it turns out, could serve as an alternate title for a film about Davis, a larger-than-life figure whose story […]
by Soheil Rezayazdi on Dec 2, 2022 -
Roofless: Ramin Bahrani’s 99 Homes
“America doesn’t bail out losers,” real-estate-loophole master practitioner Rick Carver (Michael Shannon) tells victim-turned-protégé Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield). “This nation is rigged for winners.” He proceeds to milk Noah’s ark for a metaphor. “I’m not going to drown.” With rapid visuals, pounding music, characters constantly in motion, montages of exploiters in action, and his usual astute observations of processes that enable the marring of innocents, Ramin Bahrani (Goodbye Solo, Chop Shop, Man Push Cart) impeccably dramatizes the reality behind this cynical point of view. One that, as the the chasm between the 99% and the 1% widens, is especially valid […]
by Howard Feinstein on Sep 25, 2015 -
Five Questions for 99 Homes Writer/Director Ramin Bahrani
Based on its stellar reviews out of Venice and Telluride, Ramin Bahrani’s “eviction stunner” 99 Homes infuses the sad and infuriating tale of America’s real estate bust with visceral, gut-punching drama. Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon star as the down-and-out construction worker and shady realtor who come up with a get-rich scheme involving, of course, the exploitation of those even less fortunate. Screening Monday, September 8 at the Toronto International Film Festival, 99 Homes is already picking up Oscar buzz. Below, we ask Bahrani about researching real estate, name actors and the decline of Western civilization. Filmmaker: What attracted you […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 8, 2014 -
Wanting to Like Everything: The Telluride Film Festival
The 41st annual Telluride Film Festival kicked off with a packed screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now featuring Coppola, screenwriter John Milius (still recovering from his debilitating stroke but in great spirits), cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, producer Fred Roos, and editor and sound designer Walter Murch in attendance for a post-film Q&A. It was the kind of event that represents what Telluride does best as a kind of summer camp for movie lovers: presenting a great film impeccably projected before an appreciative crowd in a casual, conversational atmosphere. There’s something about the environment of Telluride — both the gorgeous Colorado […]
by Jim Hemphill on Sep 5, 2014 -
Transparency & Emerging Visions
An older filmmaker friend of mine recently told me about his first experience with Kickstarter. He hated it. It wasn’t that he didn’t get his money–his campaign was actually successful. No, It was something else. As he put it, it was “transparency.” He really didn’t like having to be so open about his needs, about the status of his project, about his desperation to raise money. Transparency can be uncomfortable for filmmakers–too much and you seem like you don’t know what you’re doing, too little and you don’t get the help you need. I guess it’s about finding the right […]
by Musa Syeed on Oct 9, 2012 -
RAMIN BAHRANI’S SIGUR ROS VIDEO
On the heels of Alma Har’el’s wonderful video for Sigur Ros’ “Fjögur Píanó” (which may be the best thing Shia LaBeouf has ever done) comes another entry from an American independent filmmaker in the Icelandic band’s Mystery Film Experiment. After Sigur Ros’ keyboard player Kjartan Sveinsson did the music for Ramin Bahrani’s 2009 short Plastic Bag, the band chose the Man Push Cart director to make a video for ‘Ég Anda,” the fifth entry in the Mystery Film Experiment. Valtari, the group’s new album, is much more understated and less grand in scope than their previous records, and so the videos […]
by Nick Dawson on Jul 17, 2012 -
An Independent Filmmaker at Comic-Con
Last month, I travelled to San Diego to spend three days at Comic-Con, the massive annual gathering of fans of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, comics and related pop culture. It was my first time to the event and I was there to screen my new sci-fi short Digital Antiquities at the Comic-Con Independent Film Festival. I’ve been to many festivals with my films, but Comic-Con was an experience like no other. The scale of the event and passion of the fans were overwhelming, and as an indie filmmaker I found the experience both incredibly inspiring and deeply humbling. DIGITAL ANTIQUITIES In […]
by J.P. Chan on Aug 15, 2011 -
Ramin Bahrani, Chop Shop
ALEJANDRO POLANCO IN DIRECTOR RAMIN BAHRANI’S CHOP SHOP. COURTESY KOCH LORBER FILMS. Ramin Bahrani’s films are what one could term “outsider cinema,” and yet they are made with the quiet confidence of someone who knows he belongs. Iranian-American Bahrani was born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and moved to New York to study film at Columbia University. After making the short films Backgammon (1998) and Strangers (2000), he spent three years living in Iran, his parents’ former home country. Once back in the U.S., his awareness of immigrant life and the psychology of the outsider found a voice in […]
by Nick Dawson on Feb 27, 2008 -
“MAN PUSH CART”
Koch Lober releases Ramin Bahrani’s Man Push Cart today on DVD ($26.98). A festival darling this past year, Bahrani’s look at Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi), a Pakistani rock star who moves to America with his family only to work a push cart in Manhattan, is a stirring insight into the sacrifices many immigrants go through to make a living in this country. A simple story, Bahrani uses natural lighting, sparse dialogue and a haunting score to follow Ahmad’s depressing life as he wakes at three in the morning to push a tin box to his reserved midtown corner to serve donuts […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 8, 2007
