Under the Skin of the City

Even after all the great films that have emerged from Iran in recent years (or maybe especially after them), this is striking for its outspoken anger and its unflinching focus on a country torn between Islamic tradition and modernity, crippling poverty and corruption. Writer/director Rakhshan Bani Etemad serves up one close-knit family as a microcosm for the tensions in Iranian society: elderly traditionalist parents (Touba works in a textile factory, her husband is unfit for work) keep a concerned eye on their chief breadwinner Abbas - a charismatic go-getter who dreams of moving to Japan to make some real money - and their younger children. One sister is married but regularly runs away from her violent husband, another brother is involved in student political demonstrations, and the youngest daughter starts playing truant from school with her best friend and neighbour. Neo-realist in style, this compassionate, devastating film leads inexorably to the most tragic and damning conclusions.