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The premise suggests a classic American noir: a charismatic drifter arrives in a down-at-heel neighbourhood and falls for a beautiful woman, whose husband is rumoured to have died. But It's Winter, written and directed by the Iranian filmmaker Rafi Pitts, is actually set in the semi-industrial outskirts of today's Tehran. Featuring a predominantly non-professional cast in real-life locations, it's a pared-down, brooding work, deeply concerned with the plight of society's have-nots.

Worrying about a work-life balance is not an option for the characters in It's Winter, who are forced to toil away in soul-destroying, pitifully-paid jobs in order to survive. The middle-aged Mokhtar heads abroad in search of employment, leaving behind his young wife, factory-worker Khatoun (Mitra Hadjar) and their daughter. Meanwhile the mechanic Marhab (Ali Nicksolat) pitches up in the area, but the boss at the garage where he repairs engines stubbornly refuses to pay his wages.

"REPRESENTS SEXUAL DESIRE ON CELLULOID"

The cocksure, rebellious Marhab, who sports a greased-back haircut, isn't your typical Iranian cinema protagonist: this a man who goes around smashing up car windows to vent his frustration, and who confesses that he prefers having a good time to working. And Pitts is unafraid to break the Iranian taboo of representing sexual desire on celluloid, not just in the courtship scenes between Marhab and Khatoun, but in the moment where the former eyes up a female prostitute. Since the wintry landscapes powerfully convey the mood of emotional desolation, this bleak parable requires little in the way of dialogue, although the soundtrack does include a recital of an appropriately mournful poem by Mehdi Akhavan Saless.