Parviz Sayyad’s Dead End (Bonbast, 1977) is one of the films of Iran’s pre-revolutionary New Wave that deserves particular attention. Within a deceptively simple style, Sayyad manages to offer a remarkably complex portrait of his time. The film works simultaneously as a portrait of a Tehran undergoing modernization, a romantic poem, and a political critique. Yet Dead End never feels weighed down by intellectual reflection or an excessive desire to say too much. The following video essay attempts to introduce these three layers in a concise and focused way.
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