180° Rule

A seriously oddball picture, 180° Rule follows Sahar Dolatshahi’s Sara as she concocts a plan to attend a family wedding with her daughter that her husband (Pejman Jamshidi’s Hamed) has forbidden from attending – with problems ensuing after tragedy strikes at said wedding and Sara must somehow avoid her husband’s wrath. First-time filmmaker Farnoosh Samadi has infused 180° Rule with a decidedly deliberate sensibility that effectively highlights its rough-around-the-edges (and poorly subtitled) vibe, and yet it’s hard to deny that the picture fares relatively well in its first half due to its somewhat interesting narrative and undercurrent of suspense (ie Hamed is obviously going to find out about this deception at some point). The inclusion of an admittedly unexpected twist at around the half hour mark paves the way for an absolutely absurd but fairly entertaining second act, as the movie adopts a trashy, nighttime-soap feel that’s generally difficult to resist and compensates for the massive logic issues surrounding Sara’s actions. It’s disappointing to note, then, that 180° Rule peters out significantly in its final stretch, with its meandering, tedious nature dulling the impact of the tragic finale and cementing its place as a perpetually less-than-plausible marital drama.

** out of ****