Monday Magic: Tehran Taboo(2017)- Reality Among Fantasy.

IMdb Rating:7.1/10

My Rating: 4/5

Director/Writer: Ali Soozandeh

Cast: Jasmina Ali, Hasan Ali Mete, Zahra Ebrahimi.

Genre: Animation, Drama

There are times when I have to cope with some irresistible ticks in the very back of my head bugging me for days. These ticks or better to call them “Episodes” drag me forcefully towards watching specific types on a binge.

Once, at such a time, I wanted to watch something bleak, filled with dark comedy and failed to find anything as this combination was a very niche genre and very little quantities have been produced over the years.

So as I failed I asked another movie freak friend of mine to suggest something. He suggested this movie. It is made with rotoscoping. The actors act before a camera and later it is animated digitally. A very worthwhile investment I ever made. Considering the variables I had to face.

This is a story about learning how to say no. At least if you live in Tehran. This is a film that has a few stories stranded in one thin thread that is almost unrecognizable until the very end. There are four characters with four stories intertwined together.

Pari- The first not in this thread. In Iran, you cannot get divorced without the permission of your husband. Meaning a girl's opinion about her marriage life holds too little less value. Despite the disapproval, she goes to court but they deny her request upon the prior mentioned basis.

Babak- A struggling musician playing at a nightclub meets The Girl Donya. They had sex and fell in love that is drawing them harmfully close( you’ll know what I’m talking about if you watch the animated).

Babak, Donya, Pari and Sara

Donya- Donya is a Muslim girl. She is about to get married. But she makes a mistake and has sex with Babak which is the utmost taboo in a Shi'te majority Muslim country. As the law states that a girl must be a virgin before her marriage or else it is punishable. So as she is no more a virgin he asks Babak for help. They decide to try a risky procedure that restores a girl's virginity somehow.

The twist here is she is close with Pari. During a conversation, she tells her she is not getting married really. She is being sold to a rich Sheikh in Dubai and virginity wields more reward. So he trapped or used Babak.

Sara- Neighbor of Pari. She lives in the opposite apartment and she is pregnant. She is looking for work against the wishes of her husband as she wants to be an independent woman. But the situation is dire for her as the in-laws are torturing her mentally by putting pressure on not seeking work.

One night she discloses all this to Pari also drunkenly. On that fateful night, the two of them chose to prank call to the caretaker of their building. This is also a punishable crime and if found results in the utter loss of reputation. As the call was made from Sara’s phone it was somehow traced back to her. Her husband becomes furious and orders her to get out of their house. So being not able to handle it anymore, she commits suicide.

And Babak leaves the country in fear of the retaliation of Donya’s family.

The writer and director, Ali Soozandeh’s debut work is a piece of art. It has flaws in the making but the story is beautifully bleak and pulls out the nasty and dark reality of Tehran. This show exposes that the macro religious fundamentalism hurts the society in a very corrupted manner.