Cert TBA
97 mins
BBFC advice: TBA
I watch a heck of a lot of foreign movies but they do not always resonate because the cultural gap is too wide.
Such was the case with Atomic Heart - the second picture from the Edinburgh Iranian Festival.
Ali Ahmadzade's film begins straightforwardly enough with two drunken young women (Taraneh Alidoosti and Pegah Ahangarani) cruising the streets of Tehran having been to a party.
They meet a funky male pal and the chatter is about his plans to emigrate to Australia. But then they crash their car and the whole tone of the film swings to the surreal and absurd.
It is at this point they are accosted by a handsome stranger (Mohammad Reza Golzar) who claims mafia links and then even convinces them he is from another world.
Oh, I nearly forgot the sudden and brief appearance of a Saddam Hussein lookalike who is completely out of context with the tangent-strewn storyline.
For a while, Atomic Heart even becomes a chase movie with the two women trying to elude the stranger who has become progressively more crazed.
So, what I had thought had been a light-hearted commentary on young people in Iran having desires for Western values becomes an unfathomable mess.
I would love to be alerted to the opinions of others who have seen Atomic Heart so they can explain it but I am afraid it went over my head
Reasons to watch: a fresh view of inside Tehran
Reasons to avoid: drifts from the self-indulgent into the surreal
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 3.5/10