Film Review – The Past

True to its title, “The Past” remains stuck in a shared history with its characters, with the weight of guilt and resentment powering much of the drama as tension is slowly stoked for two hours of screen time. It’s the latest work from Asghar Farhadi, the Iranian filmmaker who previously detailed the erosion of a relationship in the powerful 2011 picture, “A Separation.” In many ways, “The Past” is an extension of concerns and antagonism that informed the earlier work, only here the feature builds toward an ill-fitting mystery element that’s nowhere nearly as compelling as the blunt reality of an imploding family trying to preserve a semblance of peace as old emotions return to the forefront during a particularly combustible weekend. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com