Simple Plans Are Never Simple

It’s a common rule in cinema that the easier the job seems, the more fiendishly complicated it will turn out to be. Conversely, the more complicated the premise is, say robbing a casino, or Ethan Hunt saving the world, the likelihood of it being pulled off successfully exponentially increases. The former issue predominates in Karim Lakzadeh’s Living Twice, Dying Thrice (2026), which features a rather simple con spiralling out of hand in fiendish, left-handed ways.

Ebrahim Naeej, Mehdi Rashidi and Hojjat Hosseini star in this underground Iranian film, seemingly made without the permission of the official state censors. They play three miners, who in the aftermath of a methane explosion, realise that they are sitting on a goldmine. All they have to do is get out and hide, then their family members can claim billions of rials in blood money that they are owed. It seems like A Simple Plan (Sam Raimi, 1998), but like all things too good to be true,  all manner of complications lie in their way.

Lakzadeh shoots this as buddy comedy by way of Beckett. These three schlubs fumble their way through their daring plan with no idea of how to successfully execute it, rambling across a desert shrouded in fog, like the landscape is laughing at their schemes. This circular construction, caught in long objective takes as well as playful handheld takes, makes for an acute portrayal of a country in crisis, yet there’s only so much plate-spinning I can tolerate before I want the crockery to come crashing down.

Whenever we think the story should move forward, Lakzadeh, also on co-writing, editing and DOP duties, takes us sideways, before finally gaining momentum in the second half when it turns out that their plan might all be for nought, demanding even more drastic action in the pursuit of riches. All the while, there is an obvious critique that the current system doesn’t work for everyday Iranians, with ridiculous ploys the only way to secure a financially secure way out.

Like the Locarno movie Critical Zone (Ali Ahmadzadeh, 2023), Dying Twice portrays a nuanced Iran that the highly religious government doesn’t want you to see: hijab-less women singing, both sides drinking alcohol, and copious amounts of nudity (nothing explicit though). It shows that, before the Americans decided to erroneously bomb Iran into freedom, their society was liberalising in its own unique way. Films like this, however imperfect, remind us of a different Iran than the one portrayed in the mainstream media. Long may they keep finding a way out of the regime.