“My favorite sweet”, “The Great Robbery” and three other films from today in cinemas

A total of five young people come out of today (09.01.2025) to film friends having limited choices. With “I exist” confirming the predictions that she can fill the cinema halls even after the end of the festive season, only one is the film, from the five-months of the week, which is worth – and with the above – her money. This is the romantic drama comedy “My Favorite Sweet” from Iran. In notable is the presence as co-star of the old- Stalone in completely indifferent adventure “The Great Robbery”, while his interest has the Greek documentary “The Red Master” by Stelios Charalabopoulos. My Favorite Cake Emotional comedy, an Iranian production of 2024, directed by Mariam Mogadam and Bekhtas Sanaheha, with Lili Faradpur, Esmail Mehrabi, Manshur Ilkhani, Melika Patzuki k.Separator, sweet, romantic dramatism and also accompanied by such a needy bitterness, as all that freshen us and charm us unforgettable in life, is this Iranian film, by Mariam Mogadam and Bektas Sanaheha pair (“The Ballada of the White Cow”), which was detested at the recent Film Festival in Berlin and where he won the FIPRESCI award. CORVERSE A small story – in the eye – but great in the heart, that manages to take off all emotions and project without denouncing sermons and manifestos, the need for love and companionship as an energy of resistance to those who insist that this can offend their morals and customs, threaten the steel religious regime with cracks. A film, which could of course also be described as the return of the great Iranian film school, with the script – the two directors – embroidering and producing multi-level favorite and unpretentious characters, ready to buy you the most delicious sweet of your life. Directors, actors, technical staff, all admirable, not only for their contribution to the excellent result of the film, but also for their alumni to participate in a production, not knowing the next day whether they will find themselves involved with the “police of morals” in the detention rooms or without a passport, such as the directorial couple Bogadham-Sanaheha. 70 – year – old Mahin, a widow for 30 years, has been living alone in the house, in the suburbs where her children were raised, who escaped abroad. Her loneliness is interrupted by limited telephone contact with her children and grandchildren. Her sleep disturbed and her body tired. She hardly goes to town to shop for the necessities or see her childhood friends. At a gathering with them, however, between gossip and jokes, her friends will put the idea of finding a partner for the last years of her life. At the pensioner’s restaurant he hears the sympathetic Faramaz complaining about his loneliness eating him and he doesn’t have to eat a plate of well-cooked food and decides to follow him and suggest that he go with her to her home to make her favorite cake. The diffuse sweetness of tender history is approached minimalistly and with an unprecedented naturality, giving the subject and characters a rare intimacy and at the same time a mental warmth. A 70-year-old woman decides to flirt defying the mole neighbors who would send her to prison for indecent behavior is a brave statement of defense of herself and her dignity. However, you realize, almost unconsciously, for different reasons from Iran, that this little story touches almost all of humanity. In Iran is the “police of morals”, in the rest of the world the pervasive alienation, the obscurity of old age, the absence of the social state, the welfare of statistics, the crazy rhythms of life, the deification of money… Direction makes the heroine’s small garden a private paradise, illuminated by the company of a sympathetic old man, but also by photography director Mohammad Handadi, who warms him up with his sunny afternoon shots and together our hearts that flutter optimisticly and spontaneously wet our eyes while smiling. With the power of a simple and insinuating narrative, dialogues that keep the temperature of interest in heights, a soft directive look, full of kindness and understanding, film gives a breath of humanity, a sweetness that life needs, but also a well hidden but distinct bitterness, as the finale proves. The two protagonists, the first-looking and impressive Lily Faradpur and veteran protagonist Ismail Mehrabi, charming and troublesome humanity, perform their roles with freshness, courtesy and a rare naturality, stealing our hearts. A few words… Seventy-year-old Mahin has lived alone in Tehran since she became a widow and her daughter emigrated to Europe. One day, though, her love life will gain new breath, and the heart along with her home will open again for a man. Only their unexpected flirtation will evolve into a night that in every respect will be unforgettable. Tatami: The Race of Her Life (“Tatami”) Dramatic thriller, Georgian, Israeli and American production of 2023, directed by Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Gi Nativ, with Arien Mandi, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Elhan Erfani, Nadine Marshall, Ray Newman Mrs. French-Iran actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, known from her lead role in the “Holy Spider” and Israeli director Gi Nativ, who co-sign the directing, prefer to handle their subject on the standards of a Hollywood sports drama, to create tensions and sappens, to play with melodrama, but with an apparent one-sidedness, which brings out an eye. Nativ, who has also given examples of writing with his recent film “Golda”, proving to be part of the Israeli regime, again leaves aside his country’s responsibilities in the conflict with Arab states, but also the attractive Ebrahimi, co-starring, does not miss the opportunity to throw its shots against the Iranian regime, without interested in any arguments of her country and the stakes. The film, shown for obvious reasons in the Venice Festival Horizons Department, has as a central heroine judo Leila’s athlete, a member of Iran’s national team, who participates in the world championship, Tbilisi. There, after her first victories, she shows that she can reach the final, where she will likely meet an Israeli athlete. Iran’s government will send her through her family the message that she must withdraw, pretending injury, in order not to fight the Israeli, which has been banned from her country. At the same time, the story focuses on her coach, a veteran of the sport, who exercises power over the athlete and who does not initially agree with Leila’s will to compete in the final for gold. Filmed in black and white and setting the carpet of the fight (tatami) or locker rooms, the film creates the intensity of a sports drama, with the threats that the athlete receives and which are slowly growing, as she refuses to obey, as is her family, which is in danger. However, the more the film progresses, the more it enters the costume of an American film open approach, as if everything that happens on the Iranian mission side and the athlete herself was created from scratch, by a whim of the inhuman, as shown in the Tehran regime film. The Hollywood spirit dominates with the heroine fighting over the carpet not only against rival athletes but also the obstacles of a harsh regime and moral compromises. A few words… A young Iranian, who participates in the judo world championship, faces threats of government requiring her to withdraw from the games in order not to compete in the final with an Israeli athlete. The “Armor” Adventure, of American production of 2024, directed by Justin Routt, with Jason Patrick, Sylvester Stallone, Victoria Paige Watkins, Dash Mihawk etc. Action adventure that leaves until the end unanswered the question why he had to go to cinemas. Unless the old man’s name is enough – Sylvester Stallone. Except even his remaining fans will probably be disappointed by the film itself. As he co-starred in a film, which could be an episode of a television series, playing a ruthless bandit, causing his bunch of playing again a dose of incense…. Father and son working as guards in an armored truck company meet a group of aspiring robbers while on a bridge. They’re trapped in the truck, so they have to make a plan to escape and secure their survival. It’s not so bad the film of rather unreliable Justin Rutt, but it’s really hopelessly indifferent. By finding the capture of a father and a son in an armored truck for a few hours, surrounded by murderous bandits, led by Stallone, the whole case is running out very quickly, while unique, but particularly pale, interest is in the father relationship (the philatethetist Jason Patrick) son and the guilt of the first of the loss in his wife’s accident. Well, this one, beyond Sylvester’s wild voices, is all the film that is obviously going to end and even more certain that you will hear from the back seats the classic “mama the watermelon”. A few words. Father and son working as guards in an armored truck company are trapped in it when surrounded by a group of robbers. The Red Master Documentary, a Greek production of 2024, directed by Stelios Charalabopoulos. Biographical documentary about Nikos Ploubidis, a person, for some controversial and for even more a “saint man”, who lived through the difficult years of postracial Greece and raised his own staff Golgothas, until the crucifixion. He was neither the first nor the last communist ideologist to have lost his life for his beliefs and his struggles, after all, the execution of Nikos Belloyannis had preceded him, before his own, but he is a special case, as he was waiting to be confronted with the executive result of his own party called him a “hafier”. The film by Stelios Charalabopoulos (“The Night that Fernando Pesoa met Constantine Cavafy”, “The Tears of the Mountain”) focuses mainly on the existential anguish of Plobidis, which will maintain until the end his faith in his ideals and his commitment to the party. Enlightening, mainly through letters and notes of him, but also narratives of his son Dimitris Ploubidis, a personality ascetic, selfless, which the struggle had become a consequence of his character and passing his life with incredible deprivations – the most important was that of his own family. However, the documentary, wastes a lot of time, with details that may have their meaning, leaving gaps from the history of the time, the events, the pursuits and the worst torture that Ploubidis suffered, his slander from the leadership of the KKE, the notorious Nikos Zachariades and his faithful officials. The director does not hesitate to sanctify Ploubides, an understandable choice, but who hides traps in cinema and ultimately leaves in half the great picture of the history of the post-imcial police state, the “justice” of the winners, the example and revenge. And of course, the KKE’s erratic attitude, which was prepared to sacrifice militants in the name of party discipline or his ephemeral strategies. Of the most prominent victims of that time, Nikos Ploubidis, a man who until his claim comes from the party, will fight against the dictatorship of August 4 and then against the German conquerors, inspiring the Athenian people to mobilize against occupation hunger, black marketers and political conscription planned by fascists. Achievements achieved by universal recognition by comrades and opponents, but will leave life with the stain of the “traitor”, hopelessly alone, away from his family, bitter and defenseless victim of a vulgar accusation. The film is still on: The Snow Queen and the Princess Hans Christian Andersen’s famous story returns, with his unexpected continuum, to this Russian production of 2022, a digital animation for the whole family and especially children. The film by Alexei Chichilin and Andrei Korenkov, wants Ila and her company to save their humanity and kingdom from the Spirits of the Ice and the pursuits of the vicious Snow Queen. The film is shown compiled in Greek.