A Seperation (8.3/10)

This one landed on the NYT's list of the best films of the century. The acting is so natural it barely reads as performance, more like you're watching a documentary, or footage someone happened to catch, than a scripted drama. Heads up: it's in Farsi, not English. The subject matter (a divorce that spirals into a legal mess after one moment of anger) isn't exactly my usual pick, but the performances made it work regardless. Not something I'd recommend to everyone, but I liked it. "When Nader (Payman Maadi), a bank employee, refuses to leave Tehran, his wife, Simin (Leila Hatami) sues for divorce in the hope that she can make a better life for their young daughter abroad. Needing someone to care for his senile father while he's at work, Nader hires Razieh (Sareh Bayat), a married woman whose chador hides her pregnancy. One day, after becoming angry with Razieh, Nader shoves her, and she has a miscarriage, leading Razieh's husband to take Nader to court."