A Revolution on Canvas (2023)

A Revolution on Canvas (2023)

An Iranian artist looks back on a life of revolutionary and familial struggle in this heartbreaking but illuminating documentary

7.5

Movie

United States of America
English
Documentary
2023
FEMALE DIRECTOR, SARA NODJOUMI
Nahid Hagigat, Nicky Nodjoumi, Sara Nodjoumi
95 min

TLDR

If there’s something I’ve learned from watching one too many docs about tortured male geniuses, it’s that there’s almost always a generous, supportive, and underappreciated woman behind his success.

What it's about

When he fled Iran after the Islamic Revolution, controversial artist Nicky Nodjoumi left many of his crucial paintings in Tehran. In this documentary, his daughter Sara Nodjoumi tries to both retrieve those artworks and reconcile with his distanced father.

The take

Initially, A Revolution on Canvas is about the Nodjoumi family’s quest to retrieve the patriarch’s missing paintings in post-Islamic Revolution Iran. Necessarily, it goes through Nodjoumi’s troubled childhood and shocking life as a resilient revolutionary. But the documentary eventually evolves into a knotty and heartbreaking tale about family, specifically about the sacrifices the partner of a rebel genius like Nodjoumi has to make to let the other shine. Nodjoumi’s daughter, Sara, confronts her father about his absence during their family’s formative years and, more importantly, shines a light on the sacrifices her mother--the artist Nahid Hagigat--had to make to keep them all afloat. The documentary could’ve easily been a straightforward portrait of Nodjoumi, but because it's told through such a specifically intimate lens, it’s elevated into something even more relatable and revealing.

What stands out

It bears repeating: the people (often women) behind touted heroes, revolutionaries, and cultural icons deserve just as much praise.

Comments

Add a comment

Your name

Your comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

Rain (2019)

A girl finds true love in this unusual, marvelous, rain-soaked coming-of-age drama

8.1

Stand and Deliver (1988)

An inspirational, if a bit embellished, depiction of a maverick math teacher

7.4

Lilies (1996)

A passionate, underseen queer gem where a confession transforms into a memory play

7.5

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

A more story-driven Godzilla movie with a lot heart

8.0

Open Your Eyes (1997)

The startlingly surreal Spanish psychothriller that inspired modern cult classic Vanilla Sky

8.0

Bionic (2024)

An exciting Paralympics drama wasted on utterly predictable, bloated sci-fi

4.0

Our Father, the Devil (2023)

A haunting directorial debut that unfolds in a unique psychological drama

7.0

Hail Satan? (2019)

Forget everything you think you know about the Satanic Temple

8.0

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Shyamalan meets Black Mirror in this hugely entertaining, visually inventive apocalyptic thriller with a killer ending

8.2

I Lost My Body (2019)

The Oscar-nominated unconventional animation

8.2

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.