Alice I've read all the reviews, good and bad. Almost everything bad about this film has been mentioned. It's inauthentic, insincere, controversy-baiting, poorly written, poorly researched, etc. etc.Iran has a lot of good things and bad things, but this movie is not satisfied with either, so it invents a new country, the republic of Tehrangeles, and calls it Iran. There is almost nothing Iranian about this film. Yes, they speak Persian(ish?) but it's the equivalent of saying the movie "Rent" is representative of British culture because it's the same language. The disconnect between Iranian-Americans and Iranians is huge because Iran has gone through a revolution, war and an embargo, while the US went through many changes on its own.This film is the equivalent of a North Korean director making a film about South Korea and convincing the world that this is reality.But "wait!" you say. "Iran is the totalitarian state, not the US! Your example should be a South Korean director making a film about North Korean." But nopes. Iran has a lot of restrictions on society and filmmakers, yes, but this film constructs a fictional country.I cannot stress how bad this film is. Most of it is just shot in music video style. There is a scene where the two girls sit on top of a crossing railing, put their heads together and close their eyes. That's not something people actually do anywhere. That's music video material.So, what else do they do?1. It starts with a belly dancing scene. 2. Then there's playing piano and dancing-ish on the stool. 3. Then the girl(s) dance(s) in the taxi, saying "Turn up the volume. This song is orgasmic" - No one talks like that. It's a hip hop song. Get a grip. 4. There's the dancing on the bridge crossing. 5. There's a party and dancing at the party. 6. There's a scene, who cares what, but we go back to the party for more dancing. 7. The girl dances with her mom(?) as the mop up the floor. They stop cleaning the house and just go full dancing. 8. The family is singing on the way to the sea. 9. Dancing at a dinner table, the parents dance. 10. The girl stares out the window wistfully as she hears herself(?) sing. 11. Playing piano. 12. Singing a verse from the Quran. The word is technically recite/chant, but it's still melodic. 13. Dancing to Total Eclipse of the Heart 14. Some club, somewhere, dancing. I think this might be an imagination of life outside Iran. 15. Dancing in a hotel. Or was this the imagination? 16. Dancing in an illegal nightclub 17. Dancing in a car.This is still one hour into the film. I didn't bother keeping count after that.There are things that show how little the director knows about Iran or its culture. For example, even I know that people in mosques pray together. In sync. That's the whole point of group prayers in every culture in the world. It is to pray together. In this film the mosque scenes have people praying off sync. A group of 10+ praying men all praying on their own beat. You can say that they're praying off schedule (they missed the group prayer) and they're catching up before the next one, but as the shot lingers, it shows that they finish one after the other, every 3 seconds one finishes prayer. The first to finish and the last were about 20 seconds apart. So they were praying at the same time, same place, but some were off by a mere 3 seconds... what? No two people were praying together? Why even bother going to a mosque? It's like shooting a restaurant scene where no two people are sitting together. I'd give this film a zero, but IMDb won't let me. So it gets one star. But to be fair, it does get one star because it gives you an insight into the mind of an Iranian American. I have nothing against Iranian Americans, but a subsection of that particular demographic is as informed about Iran as the average American (so knowing little to nothing), which is fine, but a subsection of that demographic also think of themselves as an authority on the matter because of their genetics.Imagine if Katherine Heigl presented herself as an expert on East German culture, directing films about communism, the Berlin wall, the Stasi, etc. Then, instead of doing any research or going there, imagine her going to Prague to shoot the film, making a ridiculous story about graffiti on the Berlin wall, with two lesbians, one from the East one from the West, meeting at the wall. The Western one plays music through a boombox and they dance together or exchange love letters through barbed wire. And most of the film is about dancing.People would laugh at how bad it would be. Heigl wouldn't do such a thing, but this director has.This film is in my bottom 20 list, along with Foodfight! and Birdemic.

evgenia Movie is erratic, obscure and basically resemble a long video clip. Its plot hard to follow and characters are weekly developed, most plot twists are logically disconnected. So why is this debut feature movie got Sundance audience award, was reviewed by most prominent American newspapers and was shown in numerous American theaters? Difficulties of lesbian love in Iran is widely compelling, so it's pretty easy to speculate on the subject and arouse more public outrage against Islamic republic regime on the whole, which is exactly the present agenda. That's the only plausible explanation Even if the director as she stated made a movie about her youth and experience in Iran, it turned out to be a spot on for western anti-Iranian propaganda. This is the only reason the movie being noticed, awarded, discussed and promoted. So it's obvious that the subject of forbidden lesbian love is alluring and induces great empathy, and is truly sad. This movie, however, does not really focus on that, putting a side the fact, that girls are so far from real lesbians and are more of a man's dream of lesbians. Movie is exceptionally superficial and mostly focuses on the physical aspect of the girls relationship, bed scenes are shot in the music clip manner. Most part of the film girls go from one party to another and once even have to run away from the moral police (duh). Their 'fight' for human rights is represented, I assume, by their secretly doubling movie 'Milk' with two allegedly gay guys. Only the process of doubling an intercourse scene of Harvy Milk and his lover is shown though. The most meaningful dialog that took place among the characters on the human rights subject is one where they jokingly argue whether having sex with whoever you want is a an indivisible human right or not. The director, moreover, tried to make out of this scattered music clip a melodramatic thriller on top of all. Thus the older brother of Atefeh, Mehran, who is an ex heroin addict, and supposedly a talented pianist has been recently released from a rehab and became a righteous Muslim overnight. He calls moral police on his friend's grandiose party and apparently completely renounces his old life style. His new obsession is Shirin, who is from an impoverished family of university professors, supposedly killed for their anti-government actions. Mehran, who often sits in front of his computer turned out is spying on Shirin by installing hidden cameras all over the house. He is an extremely bad copy of William Baldwin's character in 'Silver'. He looks pathetic and comic trying to depict an obsessed psychopath. Finally he blackmails Shirin and makes her marry him, since he recorded her doubling 'milk' and can put her to jail. The funny thing is that he is more than Shirin could ever dream about - Her uncle has been pushing her to get married for quite a while and another beau was much worse of a deal anyway. Film ends by Shrirn kissing her husband goodbye, who all of a sudden became an ambitious businessman and is going to work in his Mercedes. Atefeh bribes a travel agent with her daddy's money and gets a visa and a ticket to Dubai, where she thinks 'everything is possible'. The whole film is so absurd and out of place, and characters are so weakly developed, that its dramatic part is just sort of comic in a bad way. Apart from all its nonsense script, awful editing, unconvincing performance, the movie does not even appeal to an average Tehranian because It is entirely detached from reality.

drawnprophet I recently met Maryam Keshavarz after watching a screening of Circumstance. A lot of the reviews here complain that it is unrealistic and that she has no basis of Iranian culture and that the actors aren't from Iran, etc. But Keshavarz's family is from Iran and she spent a lot of time there as a child. She based Mehran's character off of her uncle who made a similar transition after war. As for the actors, all of them are Iranian. They might not have been living in Iran, but she said all of them are from Iran. And she could not advertise the roles in Iran. Secondly, it doesn't look like Iran BECAUSE IT'S NOT. The director was forced to shoot the film in a different country under great suspicion. This film was shot on actual film, not digital, and all of it happened within the span of six weeks. Which is not that long. The cinematography is phenomenal. And finally. This movie is illegal in Iran. And none of the actors or the director are allowed back to Iran. Ever. I think that says something.I personally thought this movie was beautiful. The cinematography was good. The plot was enticing and wonderfully executed for the budget and restraints they faced. I highly recommend this movie.

sillent-star when I saw the advertisement,I told myself that I should see the movie but now I think I just wasted my time.Let's talk about the movie's name , circumstance. It's a good name and it completely talks about the movie.first scene,Atefeh is dancing and Shireen is watching her.then at the school and a teacher who blame Shireen for nothing maybe she wanted to tell that they are rebels in school-I don't know why director put this scene in the movie- then they went to the street and a guy picked them up. the movie continued without any clear goal,then Mehran came and with his unusual obsession who is the symbol of Iran's government and religion.At first he is lovable then a scene in mosque and you can see he became a maniac.Movie finds its goal but director -who I think she never lived in Iran -still shows some scenes that are exaggerated and some how ridicules.At the end movie is finished.