What really distinguishes the film-banned in Iran, it goes without saying-is the enormous risks these musicians take, which Ghobadi ultimately drives home with legitimate dramatic license.

An appealing cast of aspiring young musicians ostensibly play themselves in this naive, shapeless, but often fascinating 2009 drama.

Ghobadi has emerged as a filmmaker whose gift for poetic realism was only equaled by an unerring sense of precisely when and how to break the viewer's heart.

These young men don’t pretend to act, rather they live within the real threat, without the intent of a melodramatic thriller. [Full review in Spanish]