“The Persian Version” (2023) – “Oh girls. Girls just wanna have fun. They just wanna. They just wanna.” – “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (1983), performed by Cyndi Lauper and written by Robert Hazard Within the first 10 minutes (or so) of director/writer Maryam Keshavarz’s “The Persian Version” – with a “Based on a True Story…Sort Of” tagline on the movie poster – a pre-teen Leila (Chiara Stella) sneaks Michael Jackson, Prince, and Cyndi Lauper cassette tapes on a New York City trip to Iran. She then leads an…
‘The Persian Version’: Too many shifts in tones, times, and ideas crowd the earnest intentions
