User reviews

Well, Iranian animation industry have a long way to go. But I believe that's a good start.

Though Iranian cinema is one of the well-known and respected members of the global world of cinema, thanks to filmmakers such as Kiarostami, Farhadi, Panahi, etc.; none of the Iranian films that have made a mark on the world stage have been animations. A few amateurish Iranian animations, targeted strictly at kids, have had some local box office success but they've not been of a standard which could be exhibited in foreign markets. However, with The Last Fiction, this pattern is set to change. The Last Fiction is an animation film based on the stories of The Shahnameh, a massive 11th-century work by Persian poet Ferdowsi, arguably the greatest book in the Persian language. A sort of Persian Lord of the Rings, written all in verse, it tells the stories of legends, heroes and villains, monsters and myths. In the opening credit sequence of the Iranian-American director Ramin Bahrani's recent remake of Fahrenheit 451, The Shahnameh is one of the great works of world literature which is shown burning. A young Iranian animation director, Ashkan Rahgozar, for his feature film debut, has somehow not only found financial backers for this ambitious project but has also amassed a galaxy of Iranian film stars to voice the characters. Rahgozar wisely uses only a miniscule part of the Shahnameh and focuses on the stories of the evil ruler Zahak, his young nemesis Afaridoun and, what must be one of the earliest working-class heroes in literature, Kaveh, the Blacksmith. All the traditional elements of such stories are there: sword and sorcery, monsters, a love story, setbacks and triumphs. The animation techniques used in The Last Fiction are head and shoulders above all the other Iranian animated films and compare favourably with great works of world animation. Using beautifully drawn animations, supplemented by powerful music and backed by a strong narrative, The Last Fiction is a highly impressive debut and a landmark in the history of Iranian cinema. Though familiarity with stories and legends of The Shahnameh helps, even those unfamiliar with this book, should be able to follow the narrative without any difficulty and take pleasure in its audio-visual delights.

I went to watch this movie with really high hopes & well it was mediocre. It SURELY does have the worth to be watched once or twice maybe; but the movie has some disappointing features; for example :

The music by Christophe Rezaei is SPECTACULAR but sometimes the sound of music was so high that we barely could hear the characters. I really hope this wouldn't be a problem in DVD or Blu-ray version.

The language was a mixture between old and modern Persian which doesn't lead to integration! Again I do hope the English version doesn't have this problem.

Finally the plot... Well as a person who grew up with "Shahnameh" stories & also stories like J.R.R Tolkien's, I really did feel that the plot was an ambiguous mixture between The Lord of the Rings ,The Tale of Kave (from Shahnameh) & even a glimpse of Hayao Miyazaki's works. Sometimes we would feel a plot hole & well I know Hoorakhsh Studio has a series of comic books (The tale of Jamshid) that will eventually lead to this animation BUT they should consider that someone with no background of Iran's literature and their comics will also watch this. It would've been great if the plot was more comprehensive.

After all I did appreciate the graphics; though it isn't perfect compared to great 2D animations like Ghibli's works and you can notice some minor mistakes sometimes during the movie BUT it's a huge leap for Iran's 2D (with a sprinkle of 3D) animation. Good job to Hoorakhsh Studio & I look forward to watch better works from them in future!

There is no doubt that this animation is for adults and is not suitable for children and teenagers, either in terms of its darkness or in terms of its hard and weird literature.

I think everything about it is at the medium level; drawings, frame rate, characters are not well processed , dubbing, etc.

I think that the only strong part about this animation is music which is perfect.

I watched this animation twice because it was interesting to me, but I have to say that I was interested in Shahnameh since I was a child and one of my hobbies was reading the book of Shahnameh stories, and this animation had nothing to say compared to those books.

Maybe it would be better if the years spent making this animation were spent on publishing some illustrated or comic books of the Shahnameh.

One of the true icon of the shahname is Kave, whom is popular for his actions against the injustice and cruelty. An ego that is brought the proud to the persian people. The movie is amazing and well-created and I believe it is a must-watch movie. You would not believe it until you'll watch it. The sounds, music and soundtracks are traditional persian well-known music. It could be ever better but I think they did an amazing job. We need more of these stories.

I went to the theater hoping to see an animation with at least mediocre quality. I didn't. It was... disappointing, to say the least. It's quite hard to pick out which element was the worst, since the animation falls flat on most of them.

The plot was a twisted and butchered version of the old Persian tale of "Zahhaak" from Shahname. The tale itself is -obviously- a timeless classic. This... "adaptation", however, is a confusing monstrosity. If you are not familiar with this tale, the movie will only make you confused and bored. If you have in fact read or heard it before, the movie will probably make you angry... and again, bored.

The story isn't engaging, nor does it make any sense at times. Major events and plot points are looked over or rushed, and random pointless conversations go on forever and ever. The dialogue is weak, vague and poorly written. The juvenile attempt at making the dialogue seem "old" is very annoying and unbalanced. the English equivalent of some of the lines goes something like this: " Thou shalt get da hell outta here!"

The soundtrack was good overall, but poorly placed in many occasions. The animating itself was quite adequate for an Iranian animation and there were some nice - and bloody- action scenes. But average technique can never make up for a bland and weak script, sub-standard composition and catastrophic directing.

All in all, I didn't enjoy watching the whole thing. Believe me, I wanted to enjoy it, but I didn't. I didn't expect much and yet, I was let down by this less than mediocre waste of talent.

Watching the Last Fiction was an overwhelming experience. Seeing Iranian mythological characters getting some well-deserved screen time, beyond their literary and often formal context, which for some of us is not so easy to grasp, was exhilarating. The Persian Book of Kings' stories have been woven in Iranian culture, but rarely the tales and the remarkable characters of this book have been portrayed in a cinematic feature, for everyone, regardless of their literary knowledge or interest. This lighthearted adaptation of one of the most adored Persian myths, was quite captivating and left many to want to see more.

Not paying attention to the details and the low frame rate was not that much professional and technically it was lower than my expectations. Regarding the news and advertisments and talking about oscar...! Generally it was boring and i just watched it because i was curious. It could be so much better if they had just put more time and energy in it. Knowing that James cameron waited years for the needed technology and experience and rational budget to make an acceptable movie. Now all the iraninas who may not even be that much into cinema are going to rate 10 just out of prejudice

The Last Fiction covers a dialectic among necessity and freedom: a historical spirit which has been wandering since the beginning of civilization. This is an ambitious movie which debates the problem of revolution, and evokes this question: Are self-emancipation and liberation just one same thing? The Last Fiction tells us that the history is not useless papers among old books, rather, it is the spirit of the world we are living in. I admire Hoorakhsh Studios for this practical adaptation, that also has great entertaining aspects and correct use of animation medium.

The Story of Zahhak and Kaveh is one of the greatest parts of Shahnameh. I think Ancient Persia and Persian mythology have so much undiscovered potential. The animation industry in Iran has long way to go and this movie is a great start

The story of this animation is better and more complete than any animation and anime I have seen. If you are interested in epic stories such as Lord of the Rings, Warcraft and Warhammer, do not miss this animation.

Do not hurt the hand of the Iranian creator, please support, a lot of effort has been made to create this animation with this style, please just buy the animation and watch to support the creators This is a genuine Iranian story of Persian civilization, I am really proud of this civilization.

A great step forward in iranian animation industry

A beautiful animation with amazing story from shahnameh

One of the best films that existed so far in the whole world was the only problem was that the two filth of the actor's film should double, but in any case, if he did not see if you did not see if you did not really love, I really love Ira. Good country of all.

I saw the trailer friends.

Wow!!!!!! I am speechless , how a animation in this country with all limits became this.

Thanks for this hard work director & writer & all casts.

Sry for bad ENG.

Maybe you say this is a copy of lord of rings or something like this. But they are copy of this. Because this story is base of a very very old book name Shahnameh. And that book is base on a old book. Maybe for 4000 years ago. You could imagine how this animation could be great.

Okay i give it 8 out of 10 and what i am going to say its probably already noticed by the director itself but i think the project lacked budget.

Good features : great soundtrack Great 2d animation Great enviroment art.

The only problem are the 3d parts of the animation. The animations looks so unrealistic and the models are not good textured to be put in a 2d animation... but as i said these things are pretty noticable and i bet it was a lack in equipment or budget. This is a product of hoorakhsh studios and i personally think its the first iranian animation worth watching.

It was great, I will definitely recommend you to watch it and I know the score is 10 next to it. I think they should make more animations and I support them...

Singer and tanboor very good ( master shahram nazeri ) score music very bad ( kersitof rezaee ) but story line ... based of best story of shah nameh but in movie not very good performanse.

This was a great animation, I suggest you watch it and I think the score of 10 deserves it, I think you should watch it too ... . I wish he won the Oscar too.

First of all, it's a MASTERPIECE! You can't find anything better this except the heroes. My childhood is built on this. Add it to your must watch list, trust me.

You know guys I love persian historical content and i love persian culture And i loved this one.

The atmosphere was good, i loved that and design of characters.

Animation. Very valuable and well-made, strong story and great animators. With extremely strong doublers. Directed and written by voice actors, everyone has joined hands to deliver a masterpiece. This is the second godfather.