Half Moon (DVD)

For his poetic fourth feature, “Half Moon,” the Kurdish-Iranian writer and director Bahman Ghobadi returns to the breathtaking desolation of the Kurdish borderlands and the enduring optimism of his people.

Fateful and funny, haunting and magical, “Half Moon” balances delicately between the harsh realities of its location and the mystical power of Mamo’s visions. Shooting mainly in Iranian Kurdistan, the cinematographers Nigel Bluck and Crighton Bone find an unearthly beauty amid the gambling frenzy of a cockfight and the silent ranks of exiled female singers lining the rooftops of a mountain village. As the end of the journey draws near, the line between the natural and the supernatural becomes increasingly difficult to discern.