A frail, bearded man awakens in a foil-lined room. Equipped with a protective aluminum body suit and motorcycle, he rides through the vast and solitary megalopolis of an alternate-future Tehran at night. He travels between various scheduled appointments ranging from fumigating factories, experiencing virtual reality amusement rides and posing as target practice for a rich, blanks-firing dwarf. His experiences unfold organically as the night approaches dawn.

Director Vahid Vakilifar slowly and steadily creates a surreal yet minimalist world with strikingly composed long takes and an entrancing score. Amid a monolithic cityscape, the lone motorcyclist is small and solitary. Carefully framed architecture expounds on the man’s frailty in this atmospheric film. Using naturalistic lighting and sparse dialogue, Vakilifar constructs a new reality by simplifying rather than exaggerating his current one.

—Mallory Lance

Directed by

Vahid Vakilifar