M. Tanabandeh and H. Seyyedi acknowledges receiving the Orizzonti Award for Best Actor and Best Film for “World War III”

The film stars Mohsen Tanabandeh, from Cannes 2021 Grand Prix winner A Hero, as an aspiring actor cast in a war film with tyrant filmmakers and a secret lover, played by Neda Jebraeili, that risks jeopardising his new career. It is one of four films screening at the festival this year. Seyedi wrote, produced and edited World War III with Arian Vazirdaftar, whose own film Without Her is also at Venice, and Azad Jafarian. Character motivation is the reason behind a character’s behavior in a story. If a motivation is too weak, then character behavior will feel contrived and the viewer won’t feel as invested in the conflict as they should. I cannot help but think of how the weak character motivation behind Shakib, the protagonist and antihero of World War III, has made the film itself a lot less compelling. Shakib’s actions feel like they’re created in service of a plot, rather than the other way around.

September 10, 2022 | 6:29 pm