Goodbye(HKAFF 2019)

For his fifth feature, Mohammad Rasoulof employs long takes and claustrophobic camerawork to channel the quietly increasing anxiety suffered by Noura, a young attorney facing an uncertain future. Barred from working and separated from her husband, Noura plots an escape from Iran. But she finds herself blocked at every turn, if not by oppressive bureaucracy or her own isolation, then by a sexist society that’s predisposed to disregard her. Himself barred from working or leaving the country, Rasoulof mines his own outrage for this forcefully relevant critique of modern-day Iran. As the persecuted yet determined central character, Leyla Zareh gives a powerfully understated performance.