The world of pre-Revolution Persian cinema is completely alien to me - so I gingerly stepped into this adaptation of Steinbeck's seminal book not knowing what to fully expect. It's a strange sort of affair really and was surprising in many ways - mainly in how sexual and violent it all is, looking at the core text and going "we could make this all a bit more nakedly aggressive, couldn't we?". There are multiple scenes of a huge writhing mob of tussling blokes for example. There's also a rather unpleasant choice made with the Curley's Wife character, turning her into a more one-dimensional sex object than the vulnerable figure in the book. It makes what happens seem grimly deserved rather than tragically accidental and it's a nasty little change.
Otherwise, it's quite an earnestly straight retelling, and Essi's (George) helpless predicament with the infantile Topoli (Lenny - here a cross between Eli Wallach's Tuco and the Guilty Cat YouTube video) still feels meaningfully tragic despite the lo-fi jump-cuts and strange "many rabbits dying in a big cage" visual metaphor. Haunting - but not necessarily for all the right reasons. You've got to wonder what Steinbeck, who died a few years before the film came out and to whom the film is dedicated to, would make of it all.
Otherwise, it's quite an earnestly straight retelling, and Essi's (George) helpless predicament with the infantile Topoli (Lenny - here a cross between Eli Wallach's Tuco and the Guilty Cat YouTube video) still feels meaningfully tragic despite the lo-fi jump-cuts and strange "many rabbits dying in a big cage" visual metaphor. Haunting - but not necessarily for all the right reasons. You've got to wonder what Steinbeck, who died a few years before the film came out and to whom the film is dedicated to, would make of it all.
