Taking a bus ride is a perilous business in Omid Mirazei’s new short drama, Alone Together.
Stopped at a checkpoint on the way to Tehran, 10-year-old Amin (Parham Gholamlou) falls under the suspicion of a guard (Alireza Sanifar) because he claims to be travelling alone. Near him, a father (Sadegh Borghei) and his young son are also called over to the guard’s office due to not being able to produce the correct papers and guard’s suspicion that they are Afghans. When the guards find 200 grams of cocaine on Amin, they’re put in the position of pressuring him to give up the people who forced him to smuggle it.
While it may only have a slight runtime, Mirazei’s film feels fitting in the tradition of Iranian cinema that places its characters into difficult ethical dilemmas. Here the guard is faced with the prospect of having to send the 10-year-old to juvenile detention as he won’t talk, and of turning around the father who claims he’s trying to seek medical attention for his own boy in Tehran.
Mirzaei is evidently an assured presence behind the camera, getting a fantastic performance from the young Gholamlou as well as the two more experienced thesps, Sanifar and Borghei. Having also written the screenplay, he also demonstrates his skill in ratcheting the tension of drama of the scenario pitch-perfectly to a moment of extreme heightened emotion in its closing moments. Alone Together is a film about the difficult decisions people must take, and the chances that are presented to do the right thing.
Director, screenplay: Omid Mirzaei Cast: Alireza Sanifar, Parham Gholamlou, Sadegh Borghei, Mohammad Movahednia, Saba Amiri Producer: Saeed Khani Cinematography: Mehrdad Afrasiabi Editing: Pegah Ahmadi Make up: Hadi Hashemi Music: Mahdi Karami Sound: Zohreh Ali Akbari Venue: Oldenburg Film Festival
In Persian 15 minutes
