Delayed Reaction: The Persian Version

Premise: A Persian-American woman reflects on her and her mother's stories.

This is a fun and nimble movie. From the opening credits, I could tell that even if the movie ended up being a complete mess, I was going to have fun watching it. It all starts with star Layla Mohammadi as Leila. She carries herself like she's already had a Nickelodeon series and 5 teen RomComs under her belt. I was shocked to find out that she's relatively new and has only a couple TV episode credits. I expect that to change. Her narration and direct addresses to the audience keep this movie humming along. It's almost comical how much this movie shows of the deep reserve of under-utilized Persian* actors there are out there. Leila's family is huge, and everyone is quick to make an impression.

*Or generally Middle-Eastern. I'm not sure the background of every actor nor familiar enough to identify ethnicities by look.

This is a weird screenplay to talk about. It won the Screenplay award at Sundance, which is well-deserved. However, I also feel like the screenplay could be improved a lot. You see, this is a movie that covers a lot. Part of why Leila (and later Kamand Shafieisabet as Leila's mother when she was much younger) narrates this is because there's so much packed into this movie. Functionally, narration is telling, not showing, which breaks a writing 101 rule. Personally, I'm fine with that as long as it’s done really well. With The Persian Version, I can't shake the feeling that writer/director Maryam Keshavarz had too many ideas and wasn't willing to kill any of her darlings. You see, Leila is an interesting character who could carry a movie about her getting pregnant despite being a lesbian. Her large family creates a plethora of dynamics to explore. This movie could be 9 Months with a Persian twist if it wanted to be. However, the movie is also an ode to Leila's mother. It not only covers all the ways her mother overcame hardships in America but also the scandal that cause her and Leila's father to leave Iran. It's so much for one movie. Especially one that is 1h47m. Essentially my problem with this movie is that it feels like Keshavarz got 90% of where she needed to with the screenplay. That's still a very good screenplay and better than most. It feels like it could be even better though. There's no reason this movie couldn't be as efficient as a Clueless or Lady Bird. In other words, this is a movie where my only complaint is that it's very good but it could've been great.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend