MOVIE REVIEW : Pair Flee Iran Only to Find ‘Hotel Astoria’

“The Guests of the Hotel Astoria” (at the Monica 4-Plex) takes us into the daily lives of a group of Iranian refugees stranded in a small, drab Istanbul pension. Wracked by uncertainty after having risked their lives escaping from “Khomeini’s hell,” they fluctuate between hope and despair while living in constant fear.

Time and again, they are awakened in the middle of the night by Turkish authorities intent on checking their passports (most of which are false). They worry about dwindling finances as they anxiously await word on their latest visa application. Theirs is a heartbreaking predicament, shot through with cruel ironies.

Drawing upon his own experiences as a temporary exile in Turkey, Iranian writer-director Reza Alameh Zadeh, now living in Holland, singles out a married couple among the dozen refugees at the Hotel Astoria. In their 30s, they are attractive and well-educated (they had been teachers). Their efforts to get to the Netherlands, where the husband’s brother has lived for 11 years, quickly turns into a nightmare.

It’s fortunate that Zadeh, a better writer than director, is dealing with such strong material and that Shohreh Aghadashloo, who plays the wife, and Moshen Marzban, as her husband, are such accomplished actors. There’s little style or drive to the film, but it eventually catches fire when we realize how concerned we’ve become with their fate. The film may be awkward, but it is numbingly credible. And as bleak and harrowing as it is, it is also suffused with warmth because the Hotel Astoria’s guests are kind and supportive of each other, and they occasionally even receive the kindness of strangers.

Along with its central performances, “The Guests of the Hotel Astoria” has among its pluses a spare yet dramatic score by Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh, who was a noted film composer in Iran, and clean, carefully lit camera work by Charles Burnett, an outstanding local independent film maker whose credits include the script and photography for “Killer of Sheep” and his own feature “Bless Their Little Hearts.”

“The Guests of the Hotel Astoria” (Times-rated Mature for adult themes) was produced by Rafigh Pooya, innovative operator of the now-closed Fox International Theater in Venice.

‘THE GUESTS OF THE HOTEL ASTORIA’

A Take 7 Productions presentation. Executive producer Bijan Shahmoradi. Producer Rafigh Pooya. Writer-director Reza Alameh Zadeh. Camera Charles Burnett. Music Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh. Associate producer/production manager Barbara Bryan. Art director Rafish Pooya. With Shohreh Aghadashloo, Moshen Marzban, Hooshang Touzi, Vida Ghahremany, Bahram Vatanparast, Soraya Mophid, Vacheh Mangasarian, Naser Rahmany Nejad, Kamran Nozad. In Farsi and English, with English subtitles.

Running time: 1 hour, 52 minutes.

Times-rated: Mature.