Deep Breath

A reasonably interesting if not entirely successful study of two young students in Tehran, whose very different backgrounds don't prevent them having a good, loyal friendship built on a mutual appreciation of listless nihilism, petty crime and vandalism. Living in cheap hostels or stolen cars, they meander through life amiably enough until they give a lift to a garrulous young woman who arouses amorous interest in one of the pair. That's about it plotwise, save for a needless 'tragic' twist - not that the film, for all its decent performances, is especially gripping or even very rewarding on anything but a sociological level. If it weren't Iranian, one suspects it might be seen as just another slacker saga.