As
a former Basiji child soldier, Behrouz was supposed to martyr himself during
the Ira-Iraq War. He is still alive, living in Tehrangeles, but if its any consolation
to the Ayatollah, he is a mental and emotional mess. As an aspiring realtor
with a hardcore opium addiction, Behrouz keeps one foot in the legit world and
one in the underworld, but the predatory corruption of the latter might just
finish what Khomeini started in Daniel Y-Li Grove’s The Persian Connection (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in Los Angeles.
After
arriving in America, Behrouz has done odd jobs for Babak Safinia, “The Persian
King of L.A. Rea Estate” and Cirrus, the kingpin of the LA Persian mafia. He
regularly chaperones Safinia’s entitled daughter Sara as she parties her way
through the city’s nightclubs, agreeing to keep mum on her lesbian lovers. Unfortunately,
one night of clubbing brings temptation in the form of a high stakes poker game
and the sexual attention of Cirrus’s much younger wife Lola. To make amends,
Behrouz will have to recover Cirrus’s stolen opium shipment.
That
will be an awkward task for several reasons. The culprit is Sepehr, who happens
to be Behrouz’s regular dealer. Behrouz’s lover also happens to be Oksana, Sepehr’s
ex-wife and the mother of his son, who was originally trafficked into the
country by Evegeny, a ruthless Russian gangster, who was Sepehr’s customer for
the purloined opium. So yeah, small world.
Just
think, this violent scramble for opium would not have been possible if the
Trump immigration policies had been in effect back then, so imagine how
impoverishing that would have been. Still, it is crystal clear the Russian mob
is way, way worse than their Persian counterparts, for what that’s worth.
In
fact, Behrouz’s Basiji background adds an intriguing layer of existential angst
(even though the Basiji flashbacks—presumably produced on the cheap—look so
weird and out of place, they are almost trippy). Regardless, the very notion of
a failed twelve-year-old martyr is disturbing in so many ways.
As
Behrouz, Reza Sixo Safai really seems convincingly drug-addled, guilt-ridden,
and PTSD-shaken. It is definitely an anti-hero role, with Safai emphasizing all
Behrouz’s unflattering, erratic tics. Dominic Rains is even more explicit
playing sexual orientation games as the flamboyant thug Farid, while David
Diaan (so terrific in The Stoning of Soraya M.) projects old school malevolence as his recently arrived partner.
Helena Mattsson is not much of a factor as Oksana, but Julian Sands reliably
does his villainous thing as Evgeny.
