Reflective Encounters

“This uniquely uncomfortable offering from Iranian director Mohammadreza Mayghani admirably achieves a lot with relatively little. A disarmingly innocuous setup, focused on two young aspiring athletes and a seemingly typical friendship in which they share interests in games and music, gradually gives way to an increasingly pervasive sense of uneasiness and, eventually, dread. The production design and exterior settings, framed almost claustrophobically in 4:3, presents garish and dreamlike juxtapositions of colour, with interior scenes alternating between pastels and sickeningly oversaturated mood lighting. Although uncomfortable, it intrigues the viewer, shots lingering on and on where we examine repetitive actions or sometimes mere stillness.

By way of action we’re given brief glimpses of the life of one of these characters – Amitis – who is in the process of corrective dental work that, though mundane, seems to be a source of some emotional distress. Though she keeps any significant concerns close to her chest, there are certain subtle tells in her mannerisms (a testament to actor Maryam Hosseini) that portend something troubling on the horizon. Without access to the character’s thoughts or motives, we as the audience are left with the task of deciphering why and to what purpose this serves when it comes to pass in the film’s final, macabre moments.”

— Ben Mitchell