Hacker Cinema
Tehran
טהרן
2020 · TV series · 4 seasons
Created by Dana Eden, Moshe Zonder, Maor Kohn, Daniel Syrkin
Tamar is a Mossad hacker-agent who infiltrates Tehran under a false identity to help destroy Iran's nuclear reactor. But when her mission fails, Tamar must plan an operation that will place everyone dear to her in jeopardy.
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13 comments on Hacker News
Tehran season 3 had a similar fate due to the situation in the region.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/tehran-season-3-apple-tv-release-date-1236308526/
Pachinko was big in South Korea when both season 1 and 2 were released, and plenty of ad time was given to it in SK.
Arguably Tehran was in a similar position as well, but it was an already existing show on Kan 11 that Apple got the international licensing rights for - same way HBO Max got Sha'at Ne'ila/Valley of Tears.
The Morning Show, Severance, Silo, Tehran, Presumed Innocent, Ted Lasso, Slow Horses, Disclaimer, Shrinking, Loot, Severance, Where's Wanda?, Foundation, Cowboy Cartel (short documentary), Midnight Family, The Last Thing He Told Me, Invasion, Mythic Quest, Bad Monkey, Dickinson...
There's so many good shows on Apple TV.
I believe Apple has some fantastic shows. Severance, Tehran, Silo, Slow Horses, Liason, Physical, For All Mankind (season 1).
Couldn't agree more, The Bureau had me hooked from start to finish. After the first episode, I basically binge-watched the entire 5 seasons non-stop. Subtitles are not an issue for me as I always have them on anyway. It takes a couple of episodes to get into it as they don't do out of their way to explain things. It's like you've been dropped into a job with an intelligence service with no training.
"Tehran" (Israeli spy thriller) is another really good spy series. You really get a feel for the oppressive environment in Iran under the thumb of the IRGC.
Also "The Spy" with Sascha Baron Cohen is excellent too.
That was the thing that got me to sign up for Apple TV+ and I was shocked by what a terrible film CODA turned out to be. Just complete schlock. I put it up there with "Crash" among films that won Best Picture purely due to lack of candidates that year.
I tried to watch some of the stuff they were heavily promoting, but couldn't get into them. Shining Girls is really bad. Tehran, a 3rd-party adaptation from Israel, is Netflix-grade trash that strains one's ability to suspend disbelief. Adding Glenn Close, an elderly American WASP, as a Mossad agent, did nothing to make this weird Israeli propaganda vehicle more believable.
Anyway these are all matters of taste but objectively I believe Apple TV+ has very few subs, which was my main point. It doesn't seem like a massive advertising opportunity.
Two instances I recall in movies/TV where the wrong gesture lead to problems:
1. In Inglorious Basterds, when British undercover agent Lt. Hicox's cover is blown after he orders three scotch with the British three (index, middle, and ring fingers), rather than the German (thumb, index, and middle fingers) [1].
2. In the TV series Tehran, when an Israeli undercover agent posing as a Persian at a Iranian checkpoint gives the thumbs-up gesture, which, as covered in the article, is not a good thing in Iran. (Frankly, that stretched credulity. I don't think the Mossad would overlook something so basic.)
[1] https://screenrant.com/inglourious-basterds-tarantino-3-fingers-hicox-hellstrom-theory/
Thanks! I've been watching more foreign films, but my problems persist. I'll check out some of these. (I've seen some, like Parasite, The Salesman, Tehran -- they were fine movies.)
My past year discovery was watching foreign film with subtitles. What an eye opener to see atypical stories. Here's a list what I've liked, sorted by recommendation:
Roma Corpus Christi Parasite Capernhaum Quo Vadis Aida The man who sold his skin 100 Metres Felicita Les miserables El Inconveniente La Belle Époque Our happy holiday Pain and Glory The salesman Tehran Wedding unplanner Aurora Atlantics
This is almost exactly how Apple TV series Tehran starts - even couple of Mossad(instead of KGB) agents on the plane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4BxH619YlU
This has a very uncanny resemblance to the Apple TV show Tehran.
Obviously they don't have the volume but their average quality is probably as good as any streaming service. Over 16 non-film/doc/kids series the mean tomatometer/metascores is a pretty solid 74/64 and there's 5 with 90+/70+:
Ted Lasso, Tehran, Mythic Quest, Little America, and Central Park.
I enjoyed the first 4 of those and haven't seen the last.
Well not sure if they have good editing either. I saw the first episode of Tehran the other day, two noticeable errors. Passengers are on a commercial airline, but on the first outside shot it looks like a smaller corporate jet. Later when it lands it looks like a commercial jet.
Later the same plane takes off from Tehran and there is a Southwest airlines jet in the background, like its supposed to be Tehran, not Phoenix. One hardly needs to be an aviation expert to notice these things. How could a well funded production miss two thing in the first episode of a show?