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Performances are relaxed and realistic, nicely understating the comical elements while maintaining messy but sympathetic characters. The narrative gives everyone a hapless quality, which adds interest as the night keeps taking unexpected turns. Both Harari and Danker are excellent, developing strong chemistry while creating sparky individuals. So they're just as much fun to watch together as in their separate adventures. And the surrounding characters are just as amusing, and also astutely well-played.

Filmmaker Lavie has a superb light touch, sending scenes in some foreboding directions while reminding the audience everything will be fine, no matter what might happen along the way. A musical dance sequence adds a lovely whiff of fantasy, while an encounter with a suicidal woman offers a darker perspective. There are a couple of misunderstandings at the centre of the plot that are rather annoying, leading to a rather outrageous climax and a clever conclusion for two people who clearly don't want to be ordinary.

themes, language, violence

2.Oct.20 lff

These earthy, natural actors swing through some very wide-ranging emotions as the events escalate. Dolatshahi is excellent as a smart, compassionate woman thrown into unimaginable anguish. She sits in stunned silence for most of the film's second half, and still commands the screen. And Jamshidi just about makes Hamed more than a controlling villain. More engaging are Hajian and Pourshirazi as Sara's parents, and Ranjbaran as her brother, who go far beyond the call to support her.

The title refers to the filmmaking rule about only shooting from one side of a scene. This may echo the fact that, even with the blurred lines of morality that run through this story, there's clearly a right and wrong way to respond. The law gives Hamed the right to demand unflinching compliance from his wife, and perhaps that's a bigger problem than anyone is willing to admit. And it's certainly not only Iran that has a problem when it comes to the lack of options for people who are marginalised and oppressed.

themes, language

6.Oct.20 lff

Arakelyan has a magnetic presence. Even when he's just staring blankly, there's a soulful flicker flicker in his eyes and a sexy bounce to his physicality. And his actions have a tenderness to them, something those he encounters never take the time to see. Ivan is on a deeply internalised journey into his own identity, trying to understand how he got to this place where he's simply existing without purpose. The other people on-screen remain largely undefined, merely hinting at their own stories.

This is a wistful, often meditative film, meandering through micro-adventures and punctuated by resonant passages from a book by philosopher Maurice Blanchot. When the story takes a sudden dramatic turn, the themes begin to blur, provoking a very different set of thoughts and feelings. This intrusion of structure, plus some more overt metaphorical plotting, provides the film with a more distinct sense of direction, even as the meaning becomes more elusive. It's a haunting film with an eerily engaging emotionality to it.

themes, language, violence, sexuality

4.Oct.20