Fat Shaker

Mohammad Shirvani's Fat Shaker (Iran, 2013) - A beautiful young woman comes between an obese father and his handsome, deaf son in Tehran. Absurdism can be a metaphor or a contrivance, and most auds braving Mohammad Shirvani’s unappetizing “Fat Shaker” will put it in the latter camp. The opening scene illustrates the title, showing an obese man being thoroughly jiggled, then cupped and leeched until the blood runs through his back hairs. No doubt programmers and certain Rotterdam festival jurors, who awarded this a prize, will try explaining how these scenes relate to Iran now. Most viewers, however, will conclude Shirvani is visualizing insignificant dreams with no metaphorical value, and ankle before the live turkey appears. 2013ROTic, 2013SUN. RATING: 6.