Deep Breath

Live fast, die young, leave a pretty corpse. We associate that nihilistic credo with western decadence, not with one of the world's most prominent Islamic-fundamentalist republics. Get ready to have your preconceptions shattered. Get set to take a DEEP BREATH. This feature dramatizes the malaise of young Iranians whose parents may have fought the Revolution against the Shah, but who are themselves rebels without a cause, enjoying native rock and roll rather than traditional music, living for kicks and for the moment. A Tehran engineering student, Kamran is Byronically handsome (actor Saeed Amini has been called a Persian Tom Cruise or Ethan Hawke) but utterly indifferent. He forsakes a wealthy family to spend nights with his penniless buddy Mansour. When Mansour is evicted they make an easy, downward transition to stolen cars, dingy hostels and acts of petty vandalism. Then they run across Aida, a schoolgirl from an all-female dormitory, frequently jacked into her walkman. Mansour thinks he's made a love connection. Kamran has hit upon another form of quiet defiance; he's given up eating. James Dean would understand. (In Persian with English subtitles)