MVFF 2020: Bandar Band Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Road trip films have offered audiences an escape, taking them on a journey alongside endearing characters while also opening their eyes to new perspectives and ideas. Meanwhile, the road trip subgenre has been quite a crowded one, offering very little in the means of innovation, resulting in countless films that turn to the same conventions to tell their stories. While for the most part, Bandar Band, is no different, it gives the subgenre a musical twist alongside compelling characters. Though the film may arguably shallow when it comes to plot and character development, it is still a fun watch that won’t take much time, clocking in at a mere 76 minutes. Nevertheless, this Iranian film is an important one as it wasn’t as much about the plot as it was about shining a light on the daily struggles afflicting the various villages situated among southwestern Iran’s Khuzestan Province. Unfortunately, the film stumbles whenever it tries to be anything more than that journey as the short running time handcuffs the film in terms of development.

Bandar Band follows a trio of musicians (Koolghani, Ahangarani, Hossein Taheri) and their journey in a beaten-up van across the flood-ravaged Khuzestan Province to make it to Tehran for a battle of the bands event later that evening. Based on the fact that the entire landscape facing them was seemingly submerged underwater, them making it to Tehran did not seem like a sure thing. Though their goal was to find their big break and make it big, their struggle paled in comparison to the others who were struggling as a result of the flooding and subsequent mudslides (the rain proved to be a metaphor for the great struggle). Suffice it to say that it wasn’t easy and despite the hurdles they faced, the musicians still had each other and that was something. Watching those personalities play off of each other was fun as well as when they set their egos aside for the greater good.

The camera work was certainly interesting, mostly using a stationary camera to capture the action be it focusing on the view from the windshield which added to the journey. The music was also catch but at the end of the day, the best part of Bandar Band was its performances. The film essentially is Koolghani, Ahangarani, Hossein Taheri for better or worse and they deliver.

Overall, Bandar Band probably won’t join the pantheon of road trip films but for what it is, it is still a solid experience.

still courtesy of TIFF

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.