
IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT

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6 AM
Director: Mehran Modiri
Sarah is leaving Teheran for three years to study for her doctorate in Canada. Her flight is at 6 am. After an emotionally fraught final dinner with her family, she heads to an impromptu farewell party at her friend Farida’s apartment, intending to go straight to the airport afterwards. That plan implodes, however, when the morality police swoop in. Drinks are emptied, musical instruments hidden and women put on their overcoats, while Sarah is seized with terror that they will all be arrested – and she, of course, will miss her plane. Mehran Modiri, Iran’s popular satirist, who also has a chilling cameo as a police hostage negotiator, proves here that he is just as at home with a nail-biting drama.

6 AM
Director: Mehran Modiri
Sarah is leaving Teheran for three years to study for her doctorate in Canada. Her flight is at 6 am. After an emotionally fraught final dinner with her family, she heads to an impromptu farewell party at her friend Farida’s apartment, intending to go straight to the airport afterwards. That plan implodes, however, when the morality police swoop in. Drinks are emptied, musical instruments hidden and women put on their overcoats, while Sarah is seized with terror that they will all be arrested – and she, of course, will miss her plane. Mehran Modiri, Iran’s popular satirist, who also has a chilling cameo as a police hostage negotiator, proves here that he is just as at home with a nail-biting drama.

BETTER MAN
Director: Michael Gracey
Singer Robbie Williams, the one-time cheeky star of the boy band Take That, often said that he felt like a performing monkey for his whole creative life. Director Michael Gracey, best known for The Greatest Showman, duly represents Williams as a monkey in this sensational biopic. It is an outrageous idea, but it works. Williams himself voices the monkey, but his involvement does not mean his tabloid-fodder life of fame, disgrace, humiliation and ultimate resurgence gets watered down. We see it all: the bad behavior, his terrible boyfriend instincts, being a neglectful son and an unbearable workmate. But by highlighting his trademark humor, compelling honesty and irresistible showmanship, Robbie trumps again. There is also a slew of great pop songs to sing-a-long to.