A Fresh, Leisurely Look at a Changing Tehran

Shahab Fotouhi‘s debut feature “Boomerang” is a delightful, surprising portrait of modern Iran, but its biggest surprise is that Fotouhi is in his forties. His voice is the kind that feels not only fresh, but under-heard. He paints metropolitan Tehran with youthful verve, capturing — through loosely connected stories, a few non-sequiturs and even a scene of magical realism — the city’s vibes during a moment of generational transition.

Of course, that Fotouhi was raised immediately following the Iranian revolution still makes sense. Several of the film’s characters are middle-aged, and some of them — the men in particular — struggle to let go of old modes of thinking, interacting and being. However, the crux of “Boomerang” is its female characters: a mother, Sima (Leili Rashidi), and her teenage daughter Minoo (Yas Farkhondeh), who seldom interact on screen, but whose overlapping stories speak to the country’s shifting tides.

The film begins in rom-com mode, as Minoo locks eyes with a young, handsome stranger, Keyvan (Ali Hanafian), from across the street. As they wait for the traffic light to let them cross and meet, they begin flirting wordlessly. Minoo asks Keyvan to untie his bun; he obliges, revealing thick locks of hair. It’s sweet, and a little exciting.

As the teens get to know each other through sardonic confessions, elsewhere, Sima comes home to find her husband Behzad (Arash Naimian) listening in on their neighbors’ lovemaking, though she pretends not to notice. Unlike Minoo’s blossoming teenage romance, Sima and Behzad’s marriage rests on a knife-edge, ready to slip at any moment. Behzad is secretly trying to engineer a chance meeting with his ex, while Sima’s general dissatisfaction with him has made divorce all but a foregone conclusion.

The contrast between these relationships creates a broad narrative framework, though while each duo gets plenty of screen time, “Boomerang” is…