CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Maryam Mirzakhani, Only Female Fields Medalist, Has Died

Maryam Mirzakhani, Stanford mathematics full professor and Fields medalist, died last Friday July14 of breast cancer at the age of 40.  The Fields medal is the highest international honor in Mathematics (the equivalent of a Nobel prize) and Mirzakhani was the first (and only woman) to have received the award.

The loss of Mirzakhani (at such an early age) has stunned the mathematics community and resulted in a deluge of press. Here's an excerpt from the New York Times obituary:

Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian mathematician who was the only woman ever to win a Fields Medal, the most prestigious honor in mathematics, died on Friday. She was 40.

The cause was breast cancer, said Stanford University, where she was a professor. The university did not say where she died.

Her death is “a big loss and shock to the mathematical community worldwide,” said Peter C. Sarnak, a mathematician at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study.

The Fields Medal, established in 1936, is often described as the Nobel Prize of mathematics. But unlike the Nobels, the Fields are bestowed only on people aged 40 or younger, not just to honor their accomplishments but also to predict future mathematical triumphs. The Fields are awarded every four years, with up to four mathematicians chosen at a time.

She will be  missed!

HISTORIC FIRST: Fields Medal (Mathematics' Nobel Equivalent) Goes To Female Stanford Professor

Maryam Mirzakhani is the first woman to win mathematics' most prestigious prize

Finally! After 80 years, the most prestigious prize in mathematics, the Fields Medal has been awarded to a woman. Maryam Mirzakhani, currently a full professor at Stanford University was declared one of four winners of Mathematics' Nobel-equivalent at the International Mathematics Union in Seoul, Korea today.

The Guardian reports:

Born in 1977 in Tehran, Iran, Maryam Mirzakhani received her Ph.D in 2004 from Harvard University, where her advisor was Curtis McMullen. From 2004 to 2008 she was a Clay Mathematics Institute Research Fellow and an assistant professor at Princeton University. She is currently a professor at Stanford University. Her honors include the 2009 Blumenthal Award for the Advancement of Research in Pure Mathematics and the 2013 Satter Prize of the American Mathematical Society.

I wonder if any media outlets will be requesting comment on Mirzakhani's breakthrough achievement from Larry Summers?

My Top 10 Favorite Films Seen in 2012

Below is a list of my Top 10 films that I saw in 2012. As it turns out, my favorite was actually released in 2011 and was honored with the 2012 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. I had thought about changing my list to include only films that were released in 2012, but that also seems artificial, since one can consume films in many different ways and often I may not have seen a film released in one year until much later (look at all the films I saw from the 1970s in 2012).

Anyway, here is my list of my favorite films seen in 2012

1. A Separation. This was the best film I saw all year. Even though it was technically a 2011 release and elegible for the 2012 Oscars, I still think it should be on the list. What's so amazing about the film is that it is about such a simple subject: the problems of how to take care of an elderly family by a working couple. The twist is that the movie is set in Tehran, Iran so we see what seems like a typical domestic situation played out in a completely foreign (to American eyes) landscape. The differences in religion, social mores, legal system do not detract from the universal themes that A Separation depicts.
2. Argo. Bizarrely, both of the top 2 films of 2012 that I saw are set in Iran. The 2013 Oscar for Best Picture deservedly went to Ben Affleck's third feature film, about the little-known true story set around the time of a foreign affairs crisis for the United States. It is an exceedingly well-directed and well-written movie. What comes to mind (and I have seen the film twice so far) is how suspenseful the film is despite the audience knowing how the story ends. I was on the edge of my seat both times I saw the film, which is a testament to the virtuouso level of film-making. And it is also quite funny, by the far the most enjoyable filmI watched all year long.
3. Bully. Bully is decidedly not an enjoyable film, but it is an important one. I saw it on a plane, not in a movie theater, which is why it is the one movie on the list which does not have an official blog review. However, it still left quite an impression. Bully is about the epidemic of violence, both emotional and physical which kids face in schools every day and tells the story of how the adults and institutions which surround them fail to protect them, often leading to heartbreaking results. The most prominent reasons for bullying are usually around gender expression/sexual orientation but the film makes it clear that the seeds of bullying are really about punishing any deviations from what is perceived as "normal" by the majority and the marginalization of the Other. It is a powerful, emotionally draining experience to watch.
4. Prometheus. This is a pre-quel to Aliens, one of the classic science fiction movies of all times, directed by the great Ridley Scott. It stars an incredible cast of Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, and Noomi Rapace and looks incredible (it was nominated for Best Visual Effects). Sadly, the emotional impact of the film is not as high as the other films in the Alien franchise, primarily due to a somewhat muddled and non-sensical script. Regardless, it is very watchable and the best sci-fi related visual entertainment of the year.
5. Django Unchained. The second movie in Tarantino's "Unspeakable" series of films (following on the heels of Inglourious Basterds about the Holocaust) has the audacity to deal with not only slavery, a difficult subject for a white artist to address, but does so using Tarntino's signature humor and over-the-top violence. Django Unchained had a somewhat mixed critical reaction, but audiences loved it (94% on rottentomatoes.com), especially black audiences. Even the Academy recognized the film with two Oscars in very important categories, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay. And, hey, it features full-frontal nudity of Jamie Foxx, so what's not to like?
6. Cloud Atlas. This is another film in which the critics and myself had very different reactions to a film. Cloud Atlas is the latest film from the controversial Wachowski Siblings, the creative team behind The Matrix, and based on an award-winning novel. It is definitely not without flaws, but there are visual sequences in this film that will stick with me for years and again it features a celebrated cast, helmed by Oscar-winners Tom Hanks and Halle Berry in multiple, gender-bending roles.
7. Looper. It's always a delight when one goes to see a movie with low (or no) expectations and has them overwhelmingly exceeded. Looper is primarily the vision of one person, Rian Johnson, and is another one of those time-travelling brain twister. Most well-known for the curious make-up job inflicted upon Joseph Gordon-Levitt to make him believable look like Bruce Willis earlier self, Looper will definitely make you think and marvel how a creative and frugal director can tell a big story on a small budget.
8. Lincoln. Now Steve Spielberg is known for the Oscar history it made as the biggest Oscar loser of the year, one of the biggest of all time (10 losses out of 12 nominations) and for the historic third Best Actor statuette picked up by it's star Daniel Day-Lewis. It is a good movie, and a memorable one, but it is not an overly enjoyable one. There's something oddly off-putting about the film, which is something one does not usually say about a film directed by Spielberg, whose ability to manipulate his audience's emotions is legendary.
9. The Dark Knight Rises. My favorite filmmaker is Christopher Nolan, and I was very happy that he was able to follow one of the largest box-office successes of the last decade (The Dark Knight) with a sequel that completed the Batman trilogy on a high note. The main word that comes to mind with this film is "quality" or "top-notch." The cast is extraordinary: Marion Cotillard, Christin Bale, Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The opening sequence alone is worth the price of admission.
10. Life of Pi. Ang Lee's masterful film adaptation of an impossible-to-adapt Booker prize-winning novel was the most celebrated film at the 2013 Oscars, winning 4 out of 11 nominations. It is one of the most visually stunning films of the year, and the only reason it is so low on my list is that the overall message of the film, which is a somewhat convoluted argument for the existence of God is disappointing, but I can still appreciate the film as a beautiful and impressive work of art.

2012 was a pretty good for movies. I hope that 2013 turns out to be just as good!

FILM REVIEW: Argo

Finally got around to see Argo the day after the election with my husband at the Regal Ballston Common Stadium 12 in Arlington, Virginia. The Ben Affleck-directed film has been getting rave reviews (it has a 95% rating from critics and audience at rottentomatoes.com) and is widely considered to be a hot contender for end-of-year award accolades, and probably an important player in the big show itself, the Oscars.

Argo stars Affleck as the lead character Tony Mendez, Bryan Cranston as his colleague at the Central Intelligence Agency, with Alan Arkin and John Goodman as Hollwyood producers who provide comic relief.

The movie is Affleck's 3rd directorial feature, following 2007's Gone Baby Gone and 2010's The Town, which were both excellent. Argo surpasses both of them and is indeed one of the best pictures of the year. Even though I didn't come up with a list of my favorite films of 2011, without question A Separation would have been my #1 pick. I bring up the winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar because it was set in Tehran, Iran, whichis where most of the action in Argo also occurs.

However Argo is set in the late 1970s and depicts a now-declassified true story that happened during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1980. It involves a group of six American workers at the United States embassy who managed to escape before it was overrun by Iranian students and thus escaped being taken hostage for 444 days like the other Americans. Instead, President Carter approved a stranger-than-fiction secret "exfiltration" mission by the CIA to have Affleck's character go to Tehran impersonating a Hollywood film producer who wanted to film "Argo: A Science Fantasy" in Iran and leave the country by plane with the six Americans in tow. This explains the tag line on the poster for Argo: "The movie was fake, the mission was real."

The movie is well-directed, very entertaining and is incredibly suspenseful (surprisingly so, since we pretty much know the result that the Americans get away). It is also pretty funny, with Goodman and Arkin taking insider jabs at the Hollywood film-making process, which is amusing, since Argo is at its heart a big Hollywood movie, after all.

Argo should definitely be on your list of movies to see this holiday season!

Title: Argo.
Director: Ben Affleck.
Running Time: 2 hours.
MPAA Rating: Rated R for language and some violent images.
Release Date: October 12, 2012.
Viewing Date: November 7, 2012.

Writing: A-.
Acting: A.
Visuals: A+.
Impact: A-.

Overall Grade: A/A- (3.917/4.0).

FILM REVIEW: A Separation

The Iranian film A Separation has received uniformly positive reviews from critics, sporting a jaw-dropping 99% rating on rottentomatoes.com (94% from the audience). It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film this year  for writer-director Asghar Farhadi and its screenplay was given an Oscar nomination in the Original Screenplay category (losing to Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, despite Allen's alleged comment that he thought  A Separation was the Best Film of the Year) despite all the dialogue of the film is in Farsi (There are English subtitles). It is considered the best-reviewed film release of 2011.

A Separation is an astonishing film achievement. The screenplay is truly outstanding, and as the New York Times notes (in a beautifully written rave review):

It is a rigorously honest movie about the difficulties of being honest, a film that tries to be truthful about the slipperiness of truth. It also sketches a portrait — perhaps an unnervingly familiar picture for American audiences — of a society divided by sex, generation, religion and class.

The partial split between Nader and Simin is only one of the schisms revealed in the course of a story that quietly and shrewdly combines elements of family melodrama and legal thriller. 

So what exactly is the film about? Well, it's centered around the marital difficulties of Nader and Simin, a middle-class Iranian married couple who have a teenage daughter named Termeh. Nader works at a bank, and his wife Simin appears to be either a teacher or a professor. The movie begins with the two of them confronting an Iranian magistrate and an emotionally taut scene ensues where we find out that Simin is trying to get a divorce from Nader so that she can go to the United States, which, after waiting for 6 months, she has finally received a visa that will allow the entire family to go. But, the visa will expire in 40 days and Nader insists that he can not leave his father, who has an advanced case of Alzheimer's Disease behind. Simin wants the divorce so she can take her daughter with her to America so she doesn't have to live in Iran "under these circumstances." Nader refuses to give permission to allow his daughter to leave with his future ex-wife, noting that the daughter is living with him, having been abandoned by her mother, who has left the marital home to live with her parents. What do you mean, "these circumstances" asks the disembodied voice of the judge, but Nader knows that she can not answer this question without communicating a non-implicit critique of the Iranian theocratic government, so she remains quiet. For the western audience watching the movie it is an astonishing feat by writer-director Farhadi that the Iranian censors left the scene in the movie presumably due to the plausible interpretation of Simin's comments that she was referring to the domestic circumstances of her home life, not the domestic circumstances of the her country. It is the ability of the movie to communicate subtle commentary on the immediate situation depicted in the movie while also communicating a critique of the Iranian system at the same time makes A Separation an absolutely thrilling experience. As Kevin Turan of the Los Angeles Times says in his rave review of the movie, "A Separation is totally foreign and achingly familiar. It's a thrilling domestic drama that offers acute insights into human motivations and behavior as well as a compelling look at what goes on behind a particular curtain that almost never gets raised."

The movie repeatedly and effectively uses this double lens to provide commentary on  several institutions in Iran, such as the  legal/conflict resolution system, the class divide, the role of religion in society, gender relations and the nature of "truth" and "honor." In addition, for Westerners to get a close-up view of the way regular Iranians live in the city of Tehran is absolutely fascinating. The first thing one notices is how similar and comparable life in Iran looks,with completely recognizable situations and living arrangements. A Separation is a brilliant example of the importance of foreign films to educate Americans about the way the rest of the world lives. The story proceeds through a masterful plot which cranks up the suspense and stakes like the ever increasing bindings on a corset, compressing the audience so that it becomes harder and harder to breather as the movie unspools. Through a series of perfectly reasonable, small mistakes in judgment and ill-considered actions, the stakes in a dispute get raised higher and higher until we are literally looking at a case of life and death from something which basically starts off as an employer-employee misunderstanding.

In the end, though, the movie returns full circle to the dispute around which all the other disputes that spiraled out of control revolved around: the separation of Simin of Nader. However, there is a child involved and in an echo of the great Kramer v Kramer the question of which parent will get child custody becomes central. The ending of the film left me and the Other Half discussing it for hours and days afterwards, as we tried to glean the future lives and decisions of the characters from the insight provided by Farhadi in his brilliant script.


This is a movie that will remain with you for a long time, and that you will enjoy tremendously while watching it and afterwards as well.

Title: A Separation.
Director: Asghar Farhadi.
Running Time: 2 hours, 3 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material.
Release Date: December 30, 2011.
Viewing Date: March 3, 2012.

Plot: A+.
Acting: A.
Visuals: A.
Impact: A+.

Overall Grade: A+/A (4.16/4.0).

Iranian Gay Immigration Activist Risks Deportation And Execution

Meet Mohammed Abdollahi, a 24-year-old gay man of Iranian descent who is also an undocumented immigrant who has been advocating for quick passage of the DREAM act (which would legalize the status of undocumented young people who either enlist in the military or attend college), and now faces deportation to Iran, where openly gay men are often executed.

Now, that is what I call putting your life on the line for a cause.

Iran Executes Gay Man Despite Previous Stay Of Execution

Paula Ettelbrick of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission emailed me yesterday with the news that Iran has gone ahead and executed Makvan Mouloodzadeh, despite previous news reports (repeated by Mad Professah) that his execution had been stayed.

Mr. Mouloodzadeh was a 21-year-old Iranian citizen who was accused of committing anal rape (ighab) with other young boys when he was 13 years old. However, at Mr. Mouloodzadeh's trial, all the witnesses retracted their pre-trial testimonies, claiming to have lied to the authorities under duress. Makvan also told the court that his confession was made under coercion and pleaded not guilty. On June 7, 2007, the Seventh District Criminal Court of Kermanshah in Western Iran found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Despite his lawyer's appeal, the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence on August 1, 2007. The case caused an international uproar, and prompted a letter writing campaign by IGLHRC and similar actions by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Outrage! and Everyone Group.

In response to mounting public pressure, and following a detailed petition submitted to the Iranian Chief Justice by Mr. Mouloodzadeh's lawyer, the Iranian Chief Justice, Ayatollah Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, nullified the impending death sentence of Mr. Mouloodzadeh. In his November 10, 2007 opinion (1/86/8607), the Iranian Chief Justice described the death sentence to be in violation of Islamic teachings, the religious decrees of high-ranking Shiite clerics, and the law of the land.

In accordance with Iranian legal procedure, Mr. Mouloodzadeh's case was sent to the Special Supervision Bureau of the Iranian Justice Department, a designated group of judges who are responsible for reviewing and ordering retrials of flawed cases flagged by the Iranian Chief Justice. However, in defiance of the Chief Justice, the judges decided to ratify the original court's ruling and ordered the local authorities to carry out the execution.

Mr. Mouloodzadeh's execution came days after a panel at the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty.

IGLHRC Applauds Suspension of Execution For Gay Iranian

Joe.My.God has picked up the story about the nullification of the execution of an Iranian gay man. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission had widely publicized the case earlier in the week and joefully reported the news on its website:

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has learned that the Iranian Chief Justice, Ayatollah Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, has nullified the impending death sentence of Mr. Makvan Mouloodzadeh, a 21-year old Iranian citizen found guilty of multiple counts of anal rape (ighab), allegedly committed when he was 13 years old. The Iranian Chief Justice described the death sentence to be in violation of Islamic teachings, the religious decrees of high-ranking Shiite clerics, and the law of the land.

"This is a stunning victory for human rights and a reminder of the power of global protest," said Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC's executive director, who on November 5 sent a letter in Persian and English asking that Iranian authorities intervene to halt the execution.

Congratulations to IGLHRC!

Iran's President Claims His Country Has No Homosexuals

As Joe.My.God says, the reason why Ahmedinejad says there are no homosexuals in Iran is because they keep killing them. Mad Professah covered this story in July of 2006.