Film
No One Knows About Persian Cats
A film about underground Iranian musicians navigating Tehran's restrictive music scene while chasing a chance to play in London. It's woven from real musicians, shot with documentary immediacy, and thrums with the electric defiance of artists who refuse to be silenced. For anyone moved by music as resistance and survival.
If you liked this
A Prophet2009
A portrait of survival and reinvention in confinement, following a young man's transformation through brutal circumstance. Shares the same unflinching gaze at how people endure and adapt within systems designed to break them.
But Relentlessly dark prison drama with violence that doesn't look away. Demands your attention rather than entertaining you.
Requiem for a Dream2000
Four parallel stories of addiction and obsession, told with fractured urgency that matches the desperation of its characters. That same sense of people locked in struggle, pursued by forces they can't escape.
But Visually punishing and emotionally devastating. The style can feel manipulative if you're not with it.
In the Mood for Love2000
A film about longing and constraint, where what cannot be expressed becomes everything. Like Persian Cats, it finds beauty and ache in what's forbidden and unspoken between people.
But Glacially paced, with minimal plot. If you need narrative momentum, this will feel like watching paint dry in slow motion.
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The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Punch-Drunk Love2002
Both films use music and rhythm as the truest expression of feeling when normal speech fails. One is about refusal to be silenced, the other about finding your voice when no one taught you how.
Paul Thomas Anderson's film about a lonely man finding connection through music and love, shot in saturated colour and strange rhythms. It's the American inverse—loneliness as individual anguish rather than collective oppression, but music as the only language that works.
But Deeply weird and deliberately artificial. The style overwhelms some viewers; others find it precious rather than moving.
More like this (7)
Minari2021
Follows a family building a life on their own terms, navigating between cultures and survival. That same blend of intimacy and larger social pressure, music replaced by the land itself.
But Quiet and observational rather than dramatic. The emotional payoff comes late and arrives softly.
Under the Skin2014
A film that treats its subject as alien and incomprehensible, using real locations and real encounters. Shares that documentary rawness, the sense of watching something you're not meant to see.
But Deliberately opaque and unsettling. It provokes confusion as much as understanding, which some find pretentious.
The Act of Killing2012
Documentary that puts perpetrators in front of the camera to confront what they've done. Like Persian Cats, it uses the presence of real people and their own words as the source of unbearable truth.
But Morally complex and deeply disturbing. The film asks you to sit with people you'll want to reject.
Wadjda2012
Set in Saudi Arabia, about a girl determined to ride a bike despite prohibition. Another portrait of young people finding small rebellions within rigid constraint, lit by humour and hope.
But The story is simple and the stakes feel modest compared to the scale of the system opposing them.
The Wrestler2008
A man trying to build something meaningful from the wreckage of his life, shot with unflinching closeness. That same sense of people improvising survival, dignity found in effort rather than outcome.
But Relentlessly bleak. There's no redemption arc, just a man trying to matter before he's gone.
Stalker1979
A Soviet film about three men journeying to a forbidden place, wrestling with desire and risk. It shares a fascination with what happens when people move toward what they're told to avoid.
But Meditative and symbolic. If you want plot clarity and momentum, this will feel like punishment.
Trespassing Bergman2013
Both are about artists whose moment to perform is threatened by circumstance beyond their control, and what it costs to keep making art anyway.
A Swedish documentary where a filmmaker follows a disgraced actor attempting comeback through theatre. It's a film about artistic drive in exile, made by someone watching artistic drive in exile—real people, real stakes, real failure.
But Narrative arc is messy. You watch someone fail and never quite recover; closure is withheld.
People
Cast
- Negar ShaghaghiNegar
- Ashkan KoshanejadAshkan
Hamed BehdadNader- Babak MirzakhaniMirza Band Member
- Kosh MirzahiYellow Dogs Band Member
Bahman GhobadiBahman
Directing
- Mehdi PourmoussaAssistant Director
- Bahman GhobadiDirector
- Sepehr MikaeilianFirst Assistant Director
- Batin GhobadiSecond Assistant Director
Writing
- Bahman GhobadiScreenplay
- Hossein MortezaeiyanScreenplay
- Roxana SaberiScreenplay
Production
- Mehmet AktaşCo-Producer
- Roxana SaberiExecutive Producer
- Bahman GhobadiProducer
- Behrooz GhobadiProduction Manager
- Mohammad AbbasizadehProduction Supervisor