Weekend films

'No Good Men', a committed film that half works

In our cinemas the feature film by Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat that opened the last Berlin Film Festival

by Andrea Chimento

29 May 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

A brave but not always incisive film
Hen - Story of a Hen

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Afghan cinema is the star of the weekend in cinemas with 'No Good Men' by Shahrbanoo Sadat, a film that opened the last Berlin Film Festival.

Born in Iran but of Afghan nationality, Sadat is developing a five-production project inspired by Anwar Hashimi's never-published autobiography, mixed with life experiences lived by the director herself.

"No Good Men" is thus the third chapter in this operation, following the good results achieved by the previous "Wolf and Sheep" and "The Orphanage", both presented at the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

Set in the Afghanistan of 2021, shortly before the return of the Taliban to power, 'No Good Men' stars Naru, the only woman working as a camera operator at Kabul's main TV station and played by director Shahrbanoo Sadat herself.

While waiting to be officially divorced from her husband and struggling to retain custody of their four-year-old son, Naru is convinced that there are no good men in Afghanistan. Her certainties may crumble when she meets Qodrat, a prominent journalist, who offers her a significant career boost, proposing to film the evolving political situation inside their country.

It basically unites two different souls, 'No Good Men', a film that recounts on the one hand a very tragic moment in the history of Afghanistan and on the other a possible relationship that is being born, giving hope to a woman who had stopped believing in love.

“No Good Men” e gli altri film della settimana
Photogallery4 foto

A brave but not always incisive film

The basis of the film is undoubtedly important, especially in its ability to effectively combine Naru's individual story with something much broader that the woman has to deal with.

Shahrbanoo Sadat took great risks in order to make 'No Good Men' and thus continue his fundamental work in giving visibility to the lives of Afghan women: this makes the film certainly valuable and interesting, although it must unfortunately be emphasised that the film suffers from a truly excessive didacticism, explaining too many times the (admittedly significant) contents it wants to propose.

The idea of shaping a romantic narrative with a few touches of humour within a highly political context is an incisive cue, but several passages are lacking in punch and some dialogues appear too forced and melodramatic.

Hen - Story of a Hen

Other new releases include the curious 'Hen - Story of a Hen', directed by György Pálfi, an important Hungarian director who has in the past signed such unsettling works as 'Hukkle', 'Taxidermia' and 'Final Cut'.

Here, too, he creates an absolutely anomalous and original product, showing us a story through... the eyes of a chicken.

Having escaped from an intensive farm, a hen discovers love, confronts the rigid hierarchy of the henhouse and does everything she can to protect her eggs. Against the backdrop of this incredible animal adventure, studded with little big surprises, human life takes its course and the protagonist finds herself, despite herself, involved in a clandestine migrant smuggling network.

Although it is a game that on paper might even get tired at a certain point of viewing, 'Hen' is a film that uses irony and experimentalism without ever limiting itself to an exercise in style: the story becomes a metaphor for inequality and injustice, succeeding in making one reflect on these issues far more than most products that speak about them in a more explicit and direct manner.

For those looking for a different kind of film, 'Hen' is basically a must-see product.