Brick and Mirror Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		5.0

Brick and Mirror Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 3, 2026

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Treasures from the Golestan Film Studio from Radiance Films.

Treasures from the Golestan Film Studio may well be one of the most distinctive examples of Radiance Films' curating of various international cinemas if for no other reason than the relative lack of renown for the studio's eponymous director, other than in the expected populations of "discerning cineastes". Ebrahim Golestan's biography is as fascinating as the two main features (the only two narrative features in Golestan's filmography) aggregated together (along with a bevy of shorts), but suffice it to say he was Iran's version of a Hollywood mogul like Samuel Goldwyn, founding his own studio, the first independent such operation in Iran. Rather interestingly, though, Golestan's early efforts were documentaries, including some about Iran's burgeoning oil industry, efforts which ostensibly made him a kind of quasi-propagandist for the Shah's then relatively new reign. The actual fact of the matter, as demonstrated more than capably in both Brick and Mirror and perhaps especially in Secrets of the Jinn Valley, is that Golestan was very much a revolutionary, or considering what amounted to the coup d'état which installed the Shah and ousted a democratically elected Prime Minister, an anti-revolutionary who did not suffer what had happened to his country gladly. As a supplement by Ehsan Khoshbakht in this set overtly mentions, the Shah's installation was arranged jointly by the CIA and MI6, and native Iranians have evidently never forgotten it, which may add some unexpected context to current world events.

If it's stipulated that both Brick and Mirror and Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure have certain undeniable allegorical elements, it's perhaps then all the more remarkable how completely different they are. This black and white scope feature is a Kafkaesque tale of a hapless cab driver named Hashem (Zakaria Hashemi) who drops off an unseen woman only to discover she's left a baby in the back seat. The rest of the film is Hashem's desperate efforts to get someone to take responsibility for the child. No one, not anyone at the scene where the woman disappeared, no one connected with either the police or the justice system in general, no bureaucrat in the government, not even Hashem's girlfriend Taji (Tajolmolouk Ahmadi), at least initially, has any solutions. That "at least initially" part turns out to be the emotional lynchpin that Golestan utilizes to devastating effect as Taji starts to see the baby as an unexpected gift of hope. This is a bleak, relentless film which suggests that Iran had become seriously dehumanized by the early sixties, an idea that Golestan explores more trenchantly (and comedically) in Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure.

Brick and Mirror Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Brick and Mirror is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Radiance sent checks discs for purposes of this set's review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage in an insert booklet, but some prefatory text cards before the main feature offer the following information:

The restoration of Brick and Mirror has been jointly promoted and funded by Cineteca di Bologna and Ecran Noir Productions / Fereydoun Firouz under the supervision of Ebrahim Golestan.

The 4K restoration used the original camera negative and the Persian sound negative. Several outtakes from the original version were also restored and introduced back into the film according to Ebrahim Golestan's instructions. The final colour grading was supervised by the filmmaker.

Special thanks to Ehsan Khoshbakht for his invaluable contribution to the restoration process.

Restoration works were carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in Bologna and completed in August 2018.

The luscious near chiaroscuro look of large swaths of Brick and Mirror is really gorgeously offered here, with some sumptuously deep blacks and nicely modulated gray scale. The overwhelming darkness of a lot of the introductory material in particular can lead to occasional moments where not much fine detail can be made out, but on the whole detail levels are commendable throughout. There are some very slight variances in clarity, some involving establishing shots like Hashem's visit to a governmental office. Grain resolves naturally.

Brick and Mirror Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Brick and Mirror features an LPCM Mono track in the original Persian, though what might instantly strike (in more than one way) listener's ears is the absolutely baroque sound design which combines almost hallucinogenic ambient environmental effects with distorted wails from an overblown saxophone that sound like Pharoah Sanders on some kind of spiritual breakthrough. Some scenes have passing diagetic music, but there's certainly no traditional score here, and instead the film is filled with sounds of a brutalist urban environment. Dialogue is rendered without any problems. This was evidently the first Iranian feature film to have been recorded live as it was being shot. Optional English subtitles are available.

Brick and Mirror Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Ehsan Khoshbakht (HD; 14:11) offers his thoughts on the film and Golestan, including a funny anecdote where he evidently asked Golestan what the baby represented, and Golestan, seemingly gobsmacked that anyone could ask such an obvious question, answered, "Iran" (with maybe "you idiot" implied by Khoshbakht's wry self deprecating tone).


• A Tree Called Golestan (HD; 7:50) is a really appealing visual essay by Khoshbakht depicting his own interactions with Golestan.


• Outtake (HD; 3:26) was discovered during the film's restoration.

See the main Treasures from the Golestan Film Studio Blu-ray review for a listing of contents on this set's third disc.

Brick and Mirror Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Brick and Mirror is a gut wrenching indictment of trends Golestan saw developing in his country and it's a warning shot across the bow of sorts. This is an emotionally shattering experience which is not an easy watch, but which may be even more instructive about Iran, or at least Golestan's view of Iran, as a result. Technical merits are first rate and the supplements very informative and interesting. Highly recommended.