Tehroun (Nader T. Homayoun, 2009)

Depicting the harsh reality of a hand-to-mouth urban existence in Iran, with lives quite at odds with the orthodox image of the country, is enough in itself to lend interest to Homayoun's film, at least from the perspective of the western viewer. However, Tehroun manages perfectly well as a drama without any such qualifier. The basic plot of a man down on his luck and trying to keep the loan shark who he's heavily in debt to off his back is nothing novel, but the slow reveal of the particulars of his situation is handled with assurance, pacing out the pivotal points with thought-out economy. Furthermore, beyond the fact that the director had to pretend he was making a documentary to get the film past the censors, the intent really is to document and not to entertain, the director resisting the urge to get vicarious or melodramatic with the crime or human interest angles.

6/10