Dishab babato didam, Aida

Director Sadreameli completes a hat-trick of movies featuring teenage Iranian girls with Aida, I Saw Your Father Last Night. The other films in this trilogy are The Girl With Sneakers and Taraneh, Who Is 15 Years Old. Aida is based on a short story and Sadreameli has also acknowledged some help from the famed Iranian director, Abbas Kiarostami. Indeed, the structure of this film recalls many other films featuring Kiarostami's direction or writing; examples being Where Is The Friend's House, The White Balloon and Ten. The title refers to a comment by one teenage girl to the girl in the title. The intrigue being that Aida's father was seen with a woman who was not Aida's mother. This simple observation takes Aida, and the viewers, on a journey in which Aida, with the aid of her friend, secretly chase her father through Tehran's busy streets to find out the identity of the mysterious woman. Using this basic premise, and setting the film within the structure of a simple thriller, Sadreameli, with help from his writing partner Kambozia Partovi, makes some poignant statements about the turbulent life of teenagers. Although the story is set in Iran, it is one that many teenage girls could relate to. If the film has any shortcomings, it is the rather unsympathetic leading character. She is not as appealing a character as in the other two teenage movies by Sadreameli. Still, Aida is another worthwhile entry from the impressive Iranian market.