TEHRAN-The Iranian thriller drama “Just 6.5” (also known as “Law of Tehran”) written and directed by Saeed Roustayi has been included in the list of 50 best films released in the UK in 2023 by The Guardian.

A production of 2019, the movie hit the cinemas in the UK in March, after being released in eight other countries and participating in about 30 international film festivals across the globe.

Upon its premiere in Iran in February 2019, the film won multiple awards, including the Crystal Simorgh for Audience Choice of Best Film, at the 37th Fajr Film Festival. Later in the September that year, it was well received by critics at the 76th Venice Film Festival. It also received several nominations at international film festivals and won awards from festivals in Tokyo, Bordeaux, and Zurich among others.

Rustai’s second feature film, after “Life and a Day,” was hailed as Iran’s highest-grossing non-comedic domestic film in 2019.

In the movie, Samad (performed by Payman Maadi) is a narcotic detective in pursuit of a shadow drug kingpin Naser Khakzad (Navid Mohammadzadeh). One day a raid leads to capturing a low-level dealer who leads to a bigger fish, who is somehow connected to the notorious drug lord.

In addition to Maadi and Mohammadzadeh in the lead roles, Parinaz Izadyar, Farhad Aslani, Houman Kiai, Mehdi Hosseininia, and Ali Bagheri are in the cast among others.

Giving the film four stars (out of five), the guardian well-known film critic Peter Bradshaw wrote: “If Michael Mann made a movie in Iran it might look like this: a ferocious drama-thriller in which a haunted, morally ambiguous cop faces off with a despairing drug lord. We begin with a barnstorming chase sequence in which an officer runs after a drug dealer holding a bag of heroin; the scene climaxes with a shockingly nasty end for the dealer, setting a gruesome tone for the rest of the film.

In The Gurdian’s list of 50 best films in the U.K., “Law of Tehran” is ranked 24th and stand above famous films such as Todd Haynes’ drama “May December” starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman (ranked 28th), Christopher Nolan’s account of the father of the atomic bomb “Oppenheimer” starring Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. (32nd), the charming prequel to Roald Dahl’s celebrated chocolate-focused kids story “Wonka” with Timothée Chalamet immensely likable as the youthful version of the top-hatted sweetmaker (34th), and Ridley Scott’s epic historical drama “Napoleon” with Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby, depicting the rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his addictive, volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine (36th).

Saeed Rustai, 34, is an Iranian director, screenwriter and producer. He has won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best First Director at the 34th Fajr Film Festival for his feature directorial debut drama film “Life and a Day” (2016). In 2022, his second film, “Just 6.5” (2019) was nominated for the César Award for Best Foreign Film. In April 2022, his third film, “Leila's Brothers” (2022), was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize.

SS/SAB