The Iranian cinema that performs in the international market is what has given it fame and recognitionwith historical directors such as Abbas Kiarostami or Majid Majidi, others of the next generation such as Jafar Panahi or Mohsen Makhmalbaf or more current established directors such as Asghar Farhadi, Bahman Ghobadi, Reza Mirkarimi, Mohammad Rasoulof or Ida Panahandeh. The generational change begins to arrive, if in dissident cinema there was Panah Panahi, from a closer approach to commercial cinema there is Saeed Roustayipreviewing his second feature film, “Tehran Law”screened in the Horizontes section of the 76th Venice Film Festival and nominated as best foreign film at the 47th César Awards.
Roustayi delves into a reality that is rarely talked about and that has a certain irony in the English title: the epidemic of opiates and other narcotics ravaging the Persian country. Iran is estimated to have 6.5 million drug addictsdespite being one of the countries that has most persecuted drug trafficking since then mere possession of illegal substances (be they 30 grams or 50 tons) carries the death penalty. The film, a priori, presents the arduous fight against drug trafficking of agents Samad (a wonderful Payman Maadi, remembered by Western audiences for ‘Nader and Simin. A separation’) and Hamid (a notable Houman Kiai).
Both are involved in a police investigation to overthrow a drug lord, Naser Khakzad (a masterful Navid Mohammadzadeh, who offers a deeper reading of his character and who has received major international accolades). The film knows how to use the codes of the action thriller to create a plot in constant tension, which keeps the viewer waiting and allows you to see the most underground areas of the Persian capital. Given the vehement fight against drug trafficking by agents, Roustayi seems to have been inspired by William Friedkin’s films, with his splendid ‘The French Connection’.
But what makes ‘La ley de Tehrán’ different while knowing how to exploit the conventions of the genre is that we are talking about Iran, an Islamic theocratic country, which implies that the context is completely different from any other thriller with noir touches which brings out the darker part of society.
A powerful thriller with a background typical of Iranian drama
Tehran is neither Baltimore nor a suburb of Paris. Also, although Roustayi apparently shot a patriotic feature film, in which cops do their job, it is impossible not to discover the seams of a corrupt and diseased system. The director introduces those messages between the lines, thanks to clear and accurate dialoguein particular between Samad and Hamid themselves, demonstrating that the police have full powers and that they can use their confidants at will, as well as showing the sexist and misogynist reality of the Islamic country.
And to make your vision more uncomfortable, Roustayi offers a perspective twist, making the audience connect with the gaze of Naser, the charismatic drug lord. A drug trafficker who could be the metaphor of a society in which everyone ends up chasing each other, which engulfs itself by betraying one’s neighbor and living under a facade that oppresses victim and executioner. This causes the public, knowing the damage caused by the drug trafficker, to suffer for their own destiny, which creates a sublime script.with which Roustayi sets up a critical film with the system intelligent enough to be able to evade censorship in his own country.
‘Tehran Law’ brings a certain spirit not only from Friedkin, but also from other thriller masters such as Scorsese, Lumet or Fincher. On the other hand, he has a perspective typical of Iranian drama, which has linked him to Farhadi’s cinema ever since the policemen or the drug trafficker could very well converse with the protagonists of ‘The seller’ or ‘A hero’. An unusual cinema that shows the potential of the new wave of Persian directors, as can be seen with Roustayi’s next work, ‘Leila’s Brothers’, which received the FIPRESCI Award at the last 75th Cannes Film Festival.
Note: 9
The best: The management of tension and timing, the sublime interpretations of Moaadi and Mohammadzadeh.
Worse: Its difficult commercial distribution.
Source: E Cartelera
