THE PERSIAN CONNECTION: A Neon-Drenched, Noir-Soaked Thrill Ride

At one point in Daniel Y-Li Grove‘s The Persian Connection, a character is described as being “Lost, confused, a boat without an anchor.” There’s no doubt that it’s a pretty metaphor, but it’s one that doesn’t really make sense – a confused boat is something I’m personally yet to come across. Yet, we can still find some truth within it.

The same can be said for Grove‘s film overall; The Persian Connection is a visually stunning feature with just enough surface level subtext, but the more you think about the underground world and potentially complex characters it presents you with, the more you wish it just went a little bit deeper.

The base premise follows a familiar route. Behrouz (Reza Sixo Safai), a man trying to escape his connections with an Iranian underground crime syndicate, soon finds himself pulled back into their world when he’s accused of stealing their property. His former boss Cirrus (Parvis Sayyad) isn’t exactly a forgiving man, which puts Behrouz into a tricky place, further endangering his girlfriend, Oksana (Helena Mattsson), and their friend’s child, Sasha (Gregory Kasyan), as they try to navigate the neon drenched underworld and get out alive.

A Blast From The Past

The Persian Connection finds its selling point in the past. As a child, Behrouz was forced into soldiering for his country in the Iraq/Iran war, a childhood of promised martyrdom in favour of a glorious afterlife. Behrouz survived the war, though, leaving him with a lifelong debt to the people who saved him, even if they didn’t really save his soul.

It creates an immediately interesting protagonist in Behrouz, a man who grew up with his life in debt to people who only really have the intentions of making his life worse anyway. Where do you stand with a group of people who saved your life but are still content to ruin it?

I’m not sure it’s something The Persian Connection ever had any intention of exploring deeply. The idea surfaces in the script – especially as Behrouz has to decide which of his friends deserve the bullet and which he can let go – but there’s little analysis of his mentality, of the effect this life has on him. We know Behrouz has an opium addiction and keeps returning to a world he wants to leave behind, but these are more cliches than character beats. We need more if we are to truly dive head first into this character and inexplicably follow his every move.

Style Vs. Character

Yet still, the noir genre has never been recognised for its compelling characters. Noir has always been about style, mood and narrative – The Persian Connection fits that perfectly. Behrouz’s girlfriend Oksana is rarely fleshed out beyond being a supportive partner willing to help out at any cost, but she works nicely within the world of the film.

Any other film and you’d have a flat character on your hands, but Grove‘s script understands her place in the film’s noir infused story and style. It might damage its emotional core, but it remains in-keeping with what the film is trying to do.

The Persian Connection finds strength elsewhere, though. The film is brilliantly directed by Grove, with a handful of key sequences demonstrating his ability to manipulate a violent moment into something both thrilling and satisfying. A fight scene in an empty restaurant, stunningly shot in almost a single take, escalates its tension relentlessly until it arrives at a heart stopping crescendo that’ll send a jolt of fear right through your body. As a pair of knife-wielding characters hide behind a shower curtain, a neon light flashes through the window to reveal their attacker stood the other side of the thin sheet, the neon burst creating a multilayered shot of silhouetted weaponry.

Performance and Tone

The film is also reliably well performed by all involved. Supporting performances are consistently solid, but it’s Safai and Mattsson that leave an impression. While I’ve made my issues with Behrouz as a character evident across this review, it’s tough to find fault in the way Safai plays him – we feel his love for Oksana and his genuine desire to escape the darkened parts of his life, but he transforms into a brute force during any action sequence. Mattsson is rarely seen in the film’s first act but springs to life at the beginning of the second, finding a real chemistry with Safai that helps to strengthen a bond between two characters that the script doesn’t really work on.

While Grove‘s visual direction is faultless, he’s yet to master his control of tone. There are awkward leaps from scenes of extreme violence that cut straight into a woman listening to pop music. Other films have pulled off tonal leaps like this, but Grove‘s attempts don’t feel quirky or exciting, they fail to match the rest of the film’s style. At one point, after Behrouz treats himself to one final opium rush, Grove allows the screen to slowly fade through fluorescent pink as a car drives down a long windy path, and the effect is a knockout. A few moments later, he frustratingly falls back on using pop music to bridge scenes together.

The Persian Connection: Conclusion

This is Grove‘s feature length debut though, so such fumbles are easily forgiven. This is a debut film of immeasurable confidence, one that knows exactly the type of film it should be and is happy to roll with it. Sure, there are slight personality wobbles along the way, but when it all resolves in a wordless, stunningly abstract final sequence you’ll have long forgotten any minor issues you had with it. The Persian Connection is bold, tense, and thrilling, even if its thematic reach just exceeds its grasp.

What are some of your favourite neo-noir films from the 21st Century? Let us know in the comments!

The Persian Connection was released in cinemas on July 17th and is coming to VOD on July 25th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE6WCYTs_5c