I saw this film today as part of the Global Lens series. Although the photography was wonderful, the story was very depressing and didn't seem to have a point. The two lead characters were despicable people who seemed to take pleasure out of degrading the residents of a remote Iranian region. The money they are distributing comes from their mother who used to live in that region. Are they doing paybacks for wrongs she may have suffered? Hard to know. If it's their mother's vendetta, then why are these two treating people so horrendously? If every "donation" is supposed to be recorded for their mother to later see, then why was some of the money left in a restroom, out of view from the cell phone recording? The inconsistencies in the story line and the cruelty of the two lead characters made the film less than a good cinematic experience. I give a 5 for wonderful photography and beautiful locations, but that's it.

Everything was normal unfortunately, i don't think if i have seen a movie with this idea. Helping people and the hardship of doing it. i couldn't feel the characters. especially Mani Haghighi's character.. the dialog-es were not my interest. they were like a Moto.Dialogues were one-side dialog-es. poor people were not Writer's favorite, and they do everything for money.at the end they betray u. Story was normal. but acting,acting was good. camera and other things were normal too.u know it's a better idea that u create a character who loves people and who doesn't think that he understands and other people don't and if u wanna make a character like that u must make him more understandable, more reasonable. not a obstinate boy.

A Tehran couple Leyla and Kaveh drive about a mountain region somewhere in Iran and offer bags of money to the poor people they encounter in return for these folks carrying out actions that increase in inappropriateness.The thing I thing that struck me most about Modest Reception was the way in which it went against my pre-conceived ideas about Iran. It surprised me that a film with such immoral central characters would have been permitted to have been made there in the first place. My ignorance I admit. Secondly, the way the female character Leyla was portrayed was much unexpected. She was very liberated and assertive. She was the one who did the driving, she was more than a match for her husband in the fiery insults and she looked quite atypical in her cool little feminine woollen hat. My ignorance at work once again obviously. But it just goes to show that the perception of Iran from a western perspective can be somewhat skewered.The star and director Mani Haghighi said that there was no real message to the film and that people have interpreted all kinds of allegorical meanings into the narrative; which he found a little tedious. It is an odd film and I certainly felt I was probably missing something, in terms of overall understanding. But perhaps there isn't as much to understand as you imagine. Maybe it is simply a strange and surreal tale about a couple who decide to rock the boat a bit to see what will happen.

This was by far the best film I saw in the Berlin Film Festival this year, which surprised me given the tense situation in the country. Like the much lauded 'A Separation', it's chock full of allusions to the unique state the people in Iran are living in, but instead of veiling this in a character study, Mani Haghighi creates (and acts) an absurd world.Given the panache of the story, it comes almost as a shock that 'Modest Reception' was screened in the Tehran Film festival: a rich city couple confront (and confound) a number of poor border-region mountain folks, offering them bags of money in return for increasingly humiliating actions. Throughout the film, it is unclear why they are doing this, and even the final explication remains far from satisfactory; what is evident though is that they are at odds with their own lives, and use the situation to wield absolute power over the people they meet, a behavior that switches to its exact opposite at the final climax, which somewhat redeems their earlier behavior.Having been in Iran, I would say that it helps to know the country from the inside rather than news reports. If you only know these, this film will take you completely by surprise, and you'll find it hard to understand the sub-tones. As Haghighi said during Q&A upon the question if the film had any political message: 'You know, I think everything has a political message these days'. Let it suffice to say that there is a fundamental class division in Iran (as elsewhere) between city traders (or 'basaris', for which the leading couple may stand) and rural or migrating laborers (for which their various encounters may stand for). Afghan refugees, crooks, hermits, village teachers and impoverished soldiers feature among the types presented here, all of them acting with a humility towards the arrogance of the couple that may symbolize the superceding power of money over status; that may be why the movie wasn't touched too much by censors in spite of its critical tone. However, Haghighi also admitted that the absurd story was intended to deliberately mislead any expectations by authorities and audiences alike. That may also explain why the film moves at a very fast pace and features an acid jazz theme.'Modest Reception' is a baffling mix of social criticism and sardonic comedy, defying any expectations on Iranian cinema, and as far away from Kiarostami as you can possibly imagine.