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.

First off....wow, all the Iranian expats posting reviews here seem to have an agenda and it seems like a number of reviewers are hating on this movie without having actually watched it (describing scenes that don't exist in the movie!) I thought this was a fascinating look at what goes on behind closed doors in Iran; not just the sex, drugs and rock and roll of the young people's underground club scene, but also the wealthy parents who drink wine and love to sing and dance. I think the only flaw is that the filmmaker is trying to tell too many stories of the affects of this brutal religious/political repression. There are a number of subplots and minor characters that aren't well developed, but the main story of the two young women who are in love and desperate for freedom is haunting and heartbreaking.

I noted this movie on my cable service and had it recorded since I saw it had an 86% favorable audience ranking. Since I am Iranian I was more interested to watch this movie. I had recorded the movie on my DVR some months ago until I got to watch it tonight. Unfortunately I was not impressed by this movie. This movie is about lesbian love between two Iranian teenage girls in post 2009 Iran. The movie is slow moving. There is little character development in the movie. Too many story lines are crammed into this movie and make it incoherent.The plot is perhaps believable for audiences with little actual appreciation of the real life "circumstances" in Iran, who are accustomed to the usual clichés that abound on mass media narratives about Iranian life. For me the plot was not believable, teenage rebellion ala Western teenager, for example purportedly 16 year old girls doing shot after shot at the party, except among the super rich kids, just does not ring true. The addict musician brother who inexplicably turns religious and Islamic moral vigilante but wears a tuxedo to his wedding and dances with unveiled women in very appealing dress and makeup just does not ring true. I give the movie a 5 for effort.

lets start by the point which makes this movie way different from other movies with regards to Iran 1.no one was poor or uncultured or no camel on the street so that is good! 2.people tend to say stuff in other movies but taboos don't let that happen , well we heard it all in this film 3.no one ever talked about this concept (homosexuality)in any iranian movie before (i know this movie was way more that just homosexuality it covered it all!) 4. i happen to know a family quit similar in Iran , and trust me the brother of the family is an idiot just like Mehran he is a basiji while the sister is fooling around 5.finally we see many iranian moves which are good in scenario and concept but directing is weak somehow loose , like normal stuff , you can see the boom or unnatural scene , i didn not find any in this film , the genre was nice and clear not a random lets make a movie thing and thanks to ms.keshavarz we find many good new and old actors/actresses whom we did not know so far , the fact that the director was a female it self made me really glad too finally great job every one loved it at the end i want to thank the choice of music , Zan by a girl rapper . the name of the movie which is indeed best possible choice , for me though it was the circumstance for the father of the family whi changed as well as him! and the girls , well all iranian teens are having same problem