Raising, Not Answering, Provocative Questions

This stunning Iranian film, “A Separation,” by writer-director Asghar Farhadi, his fifth in nine years, won the 2012 Academy Award for best foreign film; but for my money it was simply the finest movie of the year. It is so real that you feel you are watching life happening. While our own politicians talk of bombing Iran, Farhadi reminds us that Iran is more than an abstraction or a problem in geopolitics. It is home to a people who endure the contradictions and absurdities of its theocracy while dealing with existential problems like people everywhere. The film is the same kind of singular achievement as “The Hurt Locker,” with the hypnotic pull of a thriller. Its characters experience a broad array of troubles, disappointments, deceits, lies and miseries — some self-inflicted, some societal. But the natural, taut performances and the overall high level of craft raises a tale of divorce into a suspenseful moral riddle, a story of good people making bad decisions. Nader (Peyman Moadi) and his wife, Simin (Leila Hatami), have arrived at a deadlock. Simin wants to leave Iran, while Nader, whose father has Alzheimer’s and cannot care for himself, refuses to leave. Under Islamic law, Simin cannot take their daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi, the director’s daughter), without Nader’s consent. He refuses, and when Simin walks out, Nader is left with daughter, father and a troubled and untrustworthy caregiver, Razieh (Sareh Bayat). Quickly, one plausible lie leads to another and another. No one seems to tell the truth to each other. And only the children, Termeh and Razieh’s huge-eyed little girl, seem to know lies when they hear them. Farhadi ratchets up tension and e cinematographer Mahmood Kalari, who has a knack for making the quotidian intimate. A lot of the movie is shot in tight spaces — an apartment, a courthouse hallway, a stairwell, a crowded living room. And much is shot closeup for slice-of-life, near-documentary effect. Kalari’s shots flow like life caught on the fly. The film is almost seamless. In the end, Farhadi is so confident that he leaves his movie hanging, like an unresolved musical chord. He gives us no answer to the moral riddle he has posed, just provocative questions. “A Separation” is showing at the Triplex in Great Barrington, MA, and will be shown at The Moviehouse in Millerton, NY, in the near future. The film is in Farsi with English subtitles and runs 123 minutes. It is rated PG-13.

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Father Joseph Kurnath

LAKEVILLE — Father Joseph G. M. Kurnath, retired priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford, passed away peacefully, at the age of 71, on Sunday, June 29, 2025.

Father Joe was born on May 21, 1954, in Waterbury, Connecticut. He attended kindergarten through high school in Bristol.

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Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

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Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

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After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

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