Can you guess the movie from its first and last shot? The answer is after the jump...
If you didn't guess this one, you might not have seen it. It's Ali Abbasi's chilling Oscar finalist for Denmark, Holy Spider (2022) which is streaming on Netflix and well worth your time. It takes place in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad and follows a female journalist investigating a serial killer who is murdering sex workers. The film proved that Border (2018) was no fluke and Ali Abbasi is a major talent. He followed Holy Spider up with two extremely stressful episodes of HBO's hit The Last of Us.
Holy Spider's major claim to fame, aside from Abbasi's growing reputation, was the Cannes Best Actress win for Zar Amir Ebrahimi. Her next picture is Shayda (2023), reviewed at TIFF, which is Australia's Oscar submission this year. It's excellent and Ebrahimi is even better in the new film.