AllMovie

Iranian-born, Canadian-trained director Babak Payami debuts with this opaque drama about a mysterious man with a murky past. The film opens with a shot of an empty bus station. A man and a woman venture into the frame and board the bus through separate, gender specific doors. Though separated by a barrier, the two manage to make eye contact with one another. As the film progresses, we learn in fragments that the man is on furlough from prison for selling stolen drugs. The power of this movie is not, though, derived from its plot, but rather from Payami's hypnotic capturing of everyday life in modern Tehran, from a street kid selling Viagra on the corner to the subtle ways in which women are rendered second class citizens. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival.