Девушка в кроссовках (Иран, 1999), The Girl in the Sneakers, Dokhtari Ba Kafshhaye Katani, دختری با کفش های کتانی

Suggesting an Iranian spin on Romeo and Juliet, but with the notion of tragic, unconditional love replaced by worldweariness and cynicism, director Rasul Sadr Ameli s THE GIRL IN THE SNEAKERS makes for a highly enjoyable addition to the burgeoning canon of exciting new films from the Middle East. The film opens on a teenage coupleAideen and Tadaistrolling through a Tehran park. Though they have met only recently, they are of a piece in their wistful daydreaming. Together, they seek a way of literalizing their reveries, until reality catches up with them in the form of a police officer who arrests Aideen on suspicion that he has deflowered Tadai. That Tadai should even be seen in a public place, with a young man her own age to whom she is not related, outrages her parents. They demand disciplinary action be taken against Aideen and forbid Tadai from seeing him again. Distraught and dejected, Tadai quickly decides that she cannot live without seeing Aideen once more. She runs away from