Filmmakers don't care about "fair and balanced" any more than Fox news does,so "My Tehran for Sale" is an interesting look at popular culture and youthful rebellion in Iran, as seen through the eyes of writer-director Granaz Moussavi. Her sometimes feisty, sometimes tragic film plays tonight (Nov. 16) at 7 at the Tivoli Theatre as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival.
Marzieh (Marzieh Vafamehr) is an actress, rehearsing with an underground theater group. She seems to be from a comfortably middle-class family and is in a relationship with Saman (Amir Chegini), an Iranian who moved to Australia for enough time to become a citizen, and has returned to Tehran to take Marzieh there with him. She is estranged from her family, for reasons never stated but probably as a result of her theater work, or perhaps her living with Saman.
She's also soft-hearted, taking care of her neighbor's fractious, impatient, childlike child, even when she has to rehearse, or visit doctors. As she tries to convince an Australian government official that she really needs a visa, Moussavi uses flashbacks around the Tehran arts community, including underground performances, parties and a lot of pot-smoking. She also works a great deal with a hand-held camera, with its jerky movements, to illustrate the instability of society. There are police raids, and people disappear, and Marzieh's medical problems begin to play a larger role in her life.
As a first effort for Moussavi, it's an excellent film, and Marzieh Vafamehr is striking as a conflicted woman, struggling against a restrictive society and some of the problems that she has created for herself.
My Tehran for Sale plays Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Tivoli Theatre as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival
—Joe