The striking rotoscoped animation in this snapshot of an unseen Iran is more than an aesthetic decision. Yes, it looks stunning, with its colour palette of glowing ochres and strip-mall neons. But the technique also allows director Ali Soozandeh to portray a side of the city that a live-action film would never be permitted to depict. A good-hearted sex worker with a mute son trades favours for an apartment with a religious judge; a musician pops pills with a girl at a club but the morning after, he’s told he needs to pay for an operation to restore her virginity. A pregnant wife chafes against the straitjacket of her marriage. The characters and plotting tend to be a little schematic, but just because the trajectories of the women’s narratives are predictable, it doesn’t follow that the story lacks power. On the contrary – this is fearless, potent storytelling.
