As the youngest child in a large family of Iranian immigrants, Leila (Layla Mohammadi) has always felt like she hasn’t lived up to expectations;  especially her often distracted mother Shireen (Niousha Noor).  In her current years as a young adult, Leila has felt more distance grown between her and her mom.  And as an expectant mother after a one-night-stand with an eccentric actor (Tom Byrne), Leila only anticipates the worse.

The Persian Version sets up this familiar dynamic between mother and daughter, and superbly builds off of their tension and opposing personalities to flesh out their own individual stories;  delivering a story about mutual communication that will resonate with mature audiences.  The fluent comprehension exhibited by writer/director Maryam Keshavarz is fair towards both characters (performed notably well by Mohammadi and Noor, and by their younger counterparts in flashbacks), and understands both perspectives extremely well.  Keshavarz goes the extra mile by conveying these conflicting life experiences through various storytelling methods, such as through musical numbers and careful fourth-wall breaks, which only impresses us more.

Now that Keshavarz has explored the relationship between Leila and Shireen, and shown how she can do that with expertise, I would love to see what other stories exist within this interesting family circle.  Spin-offs and sequels, please.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie