“Brother Tarantino”

“The Lizard,” an Iranian movie poking fun at the Islamic Republic’s clerics has become a huge box office hits, with tickets selling out days in advance.

In the film, thief Reza Marmoulak (Reza the Lizard) slips out of a prison hospital in his clerical disguise and takes up the life of a man of the cloth. As a preacher, his irreverent style — cracking suggestive jokes and referring to “brother (film-maker Quentin) Tarantino” during a sermon — has cinema audiences unaccustomed to open mockery of the clergy in stitches.

I hope this comes out here at some point, it’ll be a refreshing break from all the serious (fantastic, but dead serious) movies put out by Iranian filmmakers.