Iranian New Wave Cinema – Fat Shaker

The Fat Shaker, a movie written, produced and directed by Mohammad Shirvani, literally does what its title suggests: it shakes.

Shirani’s intentional use of a digital handheld, and very shaky, camera, takes us on a roller coaster of highs and lows surrounding a morbidly obese father, Levon Haftvan, and his deaf, mute, son’s relationship. When an outsider, a beautiful young woman, the part brilliantly played by Maryam Palizban, gets on this chaotic surreal roller coaster ride,

things get more chaotic and uncertain.

The viewers are taken for the ride through each

scene, purposely rearranged to further complicate an already bewildering narrative. The first ever Iranian film to premiere at Sundance, and the winner of Tiger Award at Rotterdam Festival, Fat Shaker, leaves a fine line between surreal and real, leaving enough room for viewers to assign whatever meaning they consider appropriate to the film.