VIFF Review: 10 + 4

Simply put 10 + 4 = Amazing! Mania Akbari documents her battle with cancer in such a funny and poignant way in this sequel of Abbas Kiarostami's Ten. The film is a series of discussions between friends and family and it could've turned out slow and overly sentimental but it never does. Instead, Akbari gives us the raw and brutally honest moments in life; the kind of moments only found in painful circumstances like illness and imminent death.

Never overly sentimental and always full of humour and grace even in the hardest moments 10 + 4 includes some scenes that will stay with me. Singing lessons during chemo, a passer-by demanding if she's a man or woman, her son no longer calling her mom but "baldy" are but a few of these raw moments. Akbari shows us the social consequences of baldness, strained familial relations and even a frank discussion on how illness gives her power over people - Akbari lets no one off the hook, including herself.

I highly recommend this film. Touching, raw, and pretty much brilliant.