The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Movie: The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Running Time: 2:47

Nominated for: International Feature

How I watched: Prime

When it had me: Protests in Iran

When it lost me: a lot

What systems does it challenge: Extremism, Theocracy, Patriarchy

There's a lot of great stuff going on here. The movie plays with the tension between generations. Parents who are conservative and unquestioning of the society they live in and children who are hungering for more freedom and pushing for rights and progressiveness.

The acting is good, the use of actual footage from protests in Iran is compelling and there is a Checkov's gun that is used to maximum effect as a plot device and motivator.

Can you feel the but coming? BUT, it's so long and overwrought. Many scenes seem to play the same drama over and over and it barely crawls forward when you are aching for it to get somewhere. And in the end, it feels like the characters are eluding to things that we never saw played out. How can this be when we sat through so much?

Tighten this up by 45 minutes let it really drive forward as this family unravels and then I think it could be even more compelling. That's my take.