Taste, timeliness are tricky with Iran pic

June 22, 2009 With tumult roiling the streets of Tehran, the filmmakers behind Iranian martyrdom drama "The Stoning of Soraya M." find themselves in a rare spot: with a new release seemingly ripped straight from the headlines. The pic centers on a journalist (James Caviezel) and his discovery of a story about a woman stoned to death in 1986 Iran because of presumed infidelity. "Soraya," made for $4 million, premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it earned moderately good reviews and universal citation for its gritty martyrdom aspects.

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