Ashkan, The Charmed Ring and Other Stories

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Ashkan, The Charmed Ring and Other Stories – A young man repeatedly tries to kill himself. Two blind man rope him in for a jewelry heist. The policemen try to capture them. A runaway couple. Two hitmen. A medical student, her pet fish, and a charmed ring. The many characters in this film meet, showing the causality of each of their actions.
Director: Shahram Mokri (2009) / Run Time: 90 min.
Awards/Festivals:
- Pusan International Film Festival- Best First Director
- Pusan International Film Festival- Jury’s Special Mention
- Tehran Film Festival
- Santa Barbara Film Festival
- Mumbai Film Festival
- Dubai International Film Festival
4 responses to “Ashkan, The Charmed Ring and Other Stories”
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Ashkan, The Charmed Ring and Other Stories – A young man repeatedly tries to kill himself. Two blind man rope him in for a jewelry heist. The policemen try to capture them. A runaway couple. Two hitmen. A medical student, her pet fish, and a charmed ring. The many characters in this film meet, showing the causality of each of their actions.




Excellent! Fun and upbeat. The stories unravels itself through many tiny connections giving a fact-paced non-linear narrative. It grabs you right from the beginning!
I managed to watch this movie a couple of nights ago on the Asia, Pacific Film Website. It made me laugh like no other Iranian movie had made me so for a very long time. There are so many things about the movie that resonate with the Iranian audience, I believe. One of those are the occasional references made to some of the well-known Persian proverbs: Koory asa kehsh e koory deegar shood! Loosely translated, it means, “A blind leads another;” that is, in the cultural mind of most Iranians, a recipe for failure. Nevertheless, in the very beginning, when i noticed the two robbers were blind, I could not get my eyes of the screen until the very end of the movie. And, then of course, the ring and its preconceived, dysfunctional and yet powerful charm brought that badly needed and “important” smile on my face.
“Ashkan, …” is my introduction to the work of the Iranian Director, Mr. Shahram Mokri. Nice choice!
this film is just great! beautiful in all aspects. thank you!
I was so curious to find out about the two blind men’s robbery plan and I loved how the story takes you inside different stories and again at the very end brings all the pieces together and leave you alone with a bitter reality of life!