A Brilliant Conflict

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Movie is erratic, obscure and basically resemble a long video clip. Its plot hard to follow and characters are weekly developed, most plot twists are logically disconnected. So why is this debut feature movie got Sundance audience award, was reviewed by most prominent American newspapers and was shown in numerous American theaters? Difficulties of lesbian love in Iran is widely compelling, so it's pretty easy to speculate on the subject and arouse more public outrage against Islamic republic regime on the whole, which is exactly the present agenda. That's the only plausible explanation Even if the director as she stated made a movie about her youth and experience in Iran, it turned out to be a spot on for western anti-Iranian propaganda. This is the only reason the movie being noticed, awarded, discussed and promoted. So it's obvious that the subject of forbidden lesbian love is alluring and induces great empathy, and is truly sad. This movie, however, does not really focus on that, putting a side the fact, that girls are so far from real lesbians and are more of a man's dream of lesbians. Movie is exceptionally superficial and mostly focuses on the physical aspect of the girls relationship, bed scenes are shot in the music clip manner. Most part of the film girls go from one party to another and once even have to run away from the moral police (duh). Their 'fight' for human rights is represented, I assume, by their secretly doubling movie 'Milk' with two allegedly gay guys. Only the process of doubling an intercourse scene of Harvy Milk and his lover is shown though. The most meaningful dialog that took place among the characters on the human rights subject is one where they jokingly argue whether having sex with whoever you want is a an indivisible human right or not. The director, moreover, tried to make out of this scattered music clip a melodramatic thriller on top of all. Thus the older brother of Atefeh, Mehran, who is an ex heroin addict, and supposedly a talented pianist has been recently released from a rehab and became a righteous Muslim overnight. He calls moral police on his friend's grandiose party and apparently completely renounces his old life style. His new obsession is Shirin, who is from an impoverished family of university professors, supposedly killed for their anti-government actions. Mehran, who often sits in front of his computer turned out is spying on Shirin by installing hidden cameras all over the house. He is an extremely bad copy of William Baldwin's character in 'Silver'. He looks pathetic and comic trying to depict an obsessed psychopath. Finally he blackmails Shirin and makes her marry him, since he recorded her doubling 'milk' and can put her to jail. The funny thing is that he is more than Shirin could ever dream about - Her uncle has been pushing her to get married for quite a while and another beau was much worse of a deal anyway. Film ends by Shrirn kissing her husband goodbye, who all of a sudden became an ambitious businessman and is going to work in his Mercedes. Atefeh bribes a travel agent with her daddy's money and gets a visa and a ticket to Dubai, where she thinks 'everything is possible'. The whole film is so absurd and out of place, and characters are so weakly developed, that its dramatic part is just sort of comic in a bad way. Apart from all its nonsense script, awful editing, unconvincing performance, the movie does not even appeal to an average Tehranian because It is entirely detached from reality.

I cannot stress enough on this, DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM FOR HEAVENS SAKE period Even if you are one of those human right activists and the best film you watched was Titanic, DO NOT WATE YOUR PRECIOUS TIME ON IT , not even if its porn time because it doesn't even tell you anything about Iranian society. But i don't really fancy talking about the context because i believe this is why such films are made. Bunch of morons who believe they can make a good film just because it has good purpose like gender equality or rights of homosexuals.Which is wrong CINEMA IS NOT A DEVICE ,ITS ART.I wonder who paid for this film. Not only that the dialog is extremely weak, the people who read it cant even speak Farsi fluently. The story doesn't make sense and the sex scenes are unnecessary and not in harmony with the story. I don't know if the director was trying to show a love story or criticise the Iranian regime. It certainly doesn't make me feel sorry for gays in Iran (although i already do) and the only reaction i had after this film was a hard-on. Please don't watch it.Or at least ,dont pay for it.

I recently met Maryam Keshavarz after watching a screening of Circumstance. A lot of the reviews here complain that it is unrealistic and that she has no basis of Iranian culture and that the actors aren't from Iran, etc. But Keshavarz's family is from Iran and she spent a lot of time there as a child. She based Mehran's character off of her uncle who made a similar transition after war. As for the actors, all of them are Iranian. They might not have been living in Iran, but she said all of them are from Iran. And she could not advertise the roles in Iran. Secondly, it doesn't look like Iran BECAUSE IT'S NOT. The director was forced to shoot the film in a different country under great suspicion. This film was shot on actual film, not digital, and all of it happened within the span of six weeks. Which is not that long. The cinematography is phenomenal. And finally. This movie is illegal in Iran. And none of the actors or the director are allowed back to Iran. Ever. I think that says something.I personally thought this movie was beautiful. The cinematography was good. The plot was enticing and wonderfully executed for the budget and restraints they faced. I highly recommend this movie.

A film made by an Iranian expatriate living in the United States. The film is set in Iran, but was filmed in Beirut. The story follows two best friends, Nikohl Boosheri and Sarah Kazemy, who discover a sexual attraction after Kazemy moves in with Boosheri after her dissident parents disappear (and are assumed to have been murdered by the government). Meanwhile, Boosheri's brother, a former drug addict who has become deeply religious after returning from prison, spies on his friends and family, and is completely open to turning any of them into Iran's morality police. This film has mostly been dismissed by critics and viewers (it has a fairly dismal 6.0 rating on IMDb), and I can understand some of their criticisms. It's a little too glossy, a little too polished, and the hot, teenage, lesbian sex is more than a tad exploitative (almost Cinemax-ian at times). But, really, there's a very good human story at the core of this, with very well written and performed characters. Boosheri, in particular, is just fantastic. I think it's also partly dismissed because it wasn't filmed in Iran - if it was, it would have been a critical hit for sure - and the director probably would have been stoned to death, which would make it even more beloved. Keep in mind that the writer/director, Maryam Keshavarz, is actually an Iranian woman who escaped her home country.