Born Under Libra

When the university they both attend decides to segregate classes by gender, young lovers Mahtab (Mitra Hajjar) and Daniel (Mohammed Reza Foroutan) find themselves on opposite sides of the issue, thereby jeopardizing their engagement, and ticking off Mahtab's arch-conservative father (as the film's setting is Iran, "arch-conservative" is a term that inhabits a whole new stratosphere from Jesse Helms). Following an unfortunate brush with the law, Daniel flees town, and is pursued by Mahtab. Together, the two lose their way in a rainstorm and find themselves trapped on an abandoned (and heavily mined) battlefield, where they must put their differences aside in order to get out alive. Written and directed by Ahmad Reza Darvish (The Last Flight), Born Under Libra is being distributed by the Iranian Film Society, which brings Iranian films of the more commercial variety to the U.S., meaning that this movie is, oh, a tad less subtle than the likes of The White Balloon. There are some quite funny moments early on: An Iranian cop decries youthful disrespect for the law with the line "This isn't California, this is Iran!" and Mahtab at one point offers to put on some music that's either "classical, trivial or George Michael." The moralizing early on is the weakest aspect of the story, but the film really takes off once the protagonists hit the battlefield. The sound mix is somewhat grating, featuring the most abrasive ringing telephones you've ever heard, but one imagines that access to THX facilities in the Middle East is somewhat limited.