Until Tomorrow [2022]

 Societal conservatism and patriarchy combated with female solidarity and defiance in Ali Asgari’s Until Tomorrow. Its focus on burning social issues and moral dilemmas manifested through a tense, gripping, moody and suspenseful thriller, thus presenting yet another compelling example of a fearless Iranian film where genre is employed as springboard, McGuffin and catalyst – and therefore interlaced with complex sociopolitical themes and commentaries – instead of an end in itself. The director’s niece Sadaf Asgari brought in a stirring mix of resistance, ingenuity and vulnerability – thus displaying agency amidst repression, and serving as the film’s feminist face – in the role of Fereshteh, a working single mother who’s had a child out of wedlock. While she’s been somehow managing things – her two-month-old baby, job at a printing press, and studying English with the hopes of emigration – living alone in a small flat in a large middle-class building block in Tehran, her delicately strung existence experiences an unanticipated jolt when her parents decide to visit the city for a day. She hasn’t disclosed her motherhood to them – knowing full well the repercussions of that – and hence must somehow find a way to hide her baby and its stuffs until their departure. With a fiercely loyal friend by her side – Atefeh (Ghazal Shojaei), with her red short crop and impudent smarts, made for a striking contrast to Fereshteh’s evocative beauty – she embarks on an increasingly feverish and absurdist urban odyssey for a temporary resolution to her crisis. What the two powerful girls end up doing, however, is circumvent, subvert and even challenge the stifling value systems they’re engulfed in. That it preceded the massive Mahsa Amini protests, imbued additional dimensions to it on hindsight.

Director: Ali Asgari

Genre: Drama/Psychological Thriller

Language: Persian

Country: Iran