Writer-director Asghar Farhadi wowed critics and Oscar voters alike with A Separation. I admired the film greatly, but I also found it a bit too manufactured for my liking -- a criticism that's more of a quibble, really. That quibble continues with his new film, The Past. Again, I'm enormously impressed with so much here. And yet, there's something that holds me back from full-on love. I try to explain all this in my Paste review.
