Category: Rosewater

On Friday, 8 May 2015, Rosewater had its theatrical release in the UK, which means we’re getting a few more reviews from British TV critics.

7 May 2015

• Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian

Stewart has made a very credible feature-film debut, as writer/director of this shrewd and heartfelt movie about the ordeal of Tehran-born BBC journalist Maziar Bahari, who was detained without trial, tortured and interrogated as an alleged US spy for 118 days. The case was prominently taken up on The Daily Show. Stewart has created a humane black tragicomedy […]

(Source: The Guardian)

10 May 2015

• Mark Kermode for The Guardian

Explaining that “the original impetus for the film came from my own feelings of guilt and atonement over what happened to him in Iran”, Stewart offers a powerfully vindicating account of Bahari’s Kafkaesque ordeal. […] Directorially, it’s nuts-and-bolts fare, the imagined apparition of Bahari’s father (Haluk Bilginer) being one of its few stylistic flourishes. But the story is engrossing and enraging, and Stewart takes care to remind us that the real victims of oppressive regimes are those who live with them on a daily basis.

(Source: The Guardian)

13 May 2015Rupert Hawksley for The Telegraph

Based on Bahari’s bestselling memoir, this is a dignified and vital first film from American satirist Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and a vociferous campaigner for the journalist’s release. […]

For all the earnestness, however, this is not po-faced cinema. It is cinema that matters. Some of the encounters between Bahari (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his ignorant torturer, known only as Rosewater (Kim Bodnia), are deliberately comic, which allows Stewart to show us that humanity flickers within even the darkest souls. […] This remarkable film is a tribute to the bravery of foreign correspondents and a love letter to democracy.

(Source: The Telegraph)

We got a few more reviews of Rosewater after its theatrical release on 7 November 2014:

13 November 2014

• Richard Corliss for Time Magazine

[…] Jon Stewart’s movie […] admits a saving sense of humor and proportion to the ordeals of its real-life protagonist. […]

More important, the first time adaptor-director has created a fine film with few surprises but a genuine grasp of the director’s craft. Shot in Jordan by ace indie cinematographer Bobby Bukowski (The Messenger, The Iceman), the movie has a sharp grasp of time and place […]

You may quibble with the international caste of Stewart’s casting: the Mexican García Bernal as Bahari […] That question matters less, given the strong and expertly judged performances all around — especially García Bernal’s nuanced juggling act of anger and anguish, hope and despair.

The virtue of this movie is its commitment to political ambiguity and emotional truth. […] Though not really a comedy, Rosewater is a demonstration of the creed behind The Daily Show: belief in the crucial need for impious wit against entrenched power. The freedom of the press is also the freedom to depress, and to inspire.

(Source: Time.com)

• Peter Travers for Rolling Stones Magazine

That the movie is as tense and chilling as it is owes much to Stewart’s keen eye for the way humor surfaces even in the dark places. […] Mexican actor Gael García Bernal plays Bahari. He’s exceptional in his scenes with the first-rate Kim Bodnia. Kudos to Stewart for making Rosewater more than an earnest plea for journalistic freedom. He makes it personal.

(Source: Rolling Stone Magazine)

• Manohla Dargis for The New York Times

Among its virtues, “Rosewater,” the directorial debut of Jon Stewart, is an argument for filmmakers to start their trade after they’ve looked beyond the limits of their own horizons. […] Mr. Stewart’s interest in the material is obviously personal, but his movie transcends mere self-interest.

(Source: The New York Times)

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ETA:

24 November 2014

• David Denby for The New Yorker

It also comes across as a satirist’s impassioned bid to promote global sanity. In “Rosewater,” Stewart suggests that a government that will not tolerate humor is capable of the worst tyrannies.

(Source: The New Yorker)

Here’s an interview with writer/director Jon Stewart on the origins of Rosewater at the TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival).

Here’s a first set of press reviews to Andrew’s new movie Rosewater, in which he plays “Jimmy the Avid Editor” in one scene.

Rosewater stars Gael Garcia Bernal as Maziar Bahari, Kim Bodnia, Haluk Bilginer, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Golshifteh Farahani, Dimitri Leonidas, Claire Foy, Nasser Faris and Amir El-Masry.

It’s never the wrong time to protest tyranny, unjust imprisonment, torture and totalitarian tactics. The Daily Show host Jon Stewart‘s debut as a feature-film director is motivated above all to do just that and does it in a capable, straightforward manner.

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)

The punishing ordeal of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari — imprisoned for 118 days on charges of espionage — is brought to the screen with impressive tact and intelligence by writer-director Jon Stewart in “Rosewater,” an alternately somber and darkly funny drama […]

(Source: Variety)

Indiewire have announced the first films that will be shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and that list includes the premiere of Rosewater.

You can buy ticket packages now, otherwise single tickets will go on sale on 31 August.

The screenings take place on 8 and 9 September 2014, and can be seen in detail here.

Further screenings will be announced as and when we get them.

Open Road Films has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Jon Stewart’s directorial debut, Rosewater, with plans to release the film this fall.

(Source: Entertainment Weekly, 12 May 2014)

You can read more on the story here. We’ll have more info as soon as we receive it.

According to Deadline.com, Jon Stewart’s Rosewater is close to securing a rights deal with Open Road Films.

Read more here.

The film Rosewater, in which Andrew Gower features as “Jimmy the avid editor”, has wrapped production, The Hollywood Reporter states. Director Jon Stewart will travel to the Toronto Film Festival this weekend to pitch the film.