QUICK’N DIRTY: LIVE FROM TALLINN

Mina (Ehsan Goudarzi) and Tara (Masoumeh Beigi) are a couple in their 30s, living somewhere in hustling and bustling Tehran. They spend most of their time haggling. Tara is insecure because Mina never picks up his phone, while the male is very suspicious that his partner should casually encounter her ex. The argument extends into the most the most petty trivialities. The time that they should leave the leave the house and drive to a friend’s house becomes the subject of a heated exchange. There seems to be little hope for this relationship. Maybe it’s time they break up? Split and diverge?

Aban (Sonia Sanjari) is a speech therapist working mostly with children. She had what’s perhaps the best day of her life. The vehicle carrying Mina and Tara tragically collides with the one carrying Aban. Tara dies shortly after the accident, and Mina goes into a coma. Aban survives unscathed, however deeply shocked and traumatised, and bearing the burden or survivor’s guilt. Mina eventually regains consciousness and attempts to make sense of his life, while mourning for Tara. The fact that their relationship hit rockbottom becomes irrelevant once their mortality comes to the foreground. Aban meets Mina in order to come to terms with what happened. What she’s about hear isn’t perhaps what she expected.

This 104-minute drama from Iran experiments with the images with the purpose of demonstrating that life is fractious and fractured. The scenes change from vivid hues to black-and-white as we see these people before and after the accident. The black-and-white textures are used mostly in the aftermath of the unforeseen tragedy, suggesting that the characters’ existence may became lifeless and dull, if still memorable. Most crucially, the director, cinematographers Ardalan Azarmi and Milad Tanidnam repeatedly change the frame rate. The familiar 24/25 fps (frames per second) suddenly drops to roughly six fps, and then to a few seconds per frame. This approach wilfully blurs the line between film and photography. At times, the creators gently pan the frames lasting a few seconds. Or add a moving object. As a result, some images look almost 3D, or like tableaux vivants.

The filmmaker prioritises experimentation and technical audacity ahead of storytelling. While the plot is entirely cogent and coherent, the story in itself is rather banal, and the takeaway somewhat lame. The butterfly effect idea that a small change can lead to a vastly different future is barely a groundbreaking one.

Despite the tragic predicament of the three protagonists, Duality provides neither a moral reflection nor a provocation. The titular “duality” feels too prescriptive, and the ending predictably ambiguous (ie: dual). It is mostly the visual antics, including a beautiful contemplation of the Iranian capital, that keep viewers engaged.

Duality just premiered in the Official Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival