Bending the Rules is shot with very few disguised cuts, in theatrical fashion. This naturally conveys the narrative element of the theatre, and aims to intensify the suspense of the story. In many ways, this filmmaking style is quite audacious, as it requires a great co-operation between cast and crew that is very seldom seen in cinema. The whole theatrical experimentation, as a result, seems undoubtedly exciting and certainly mostly succeeds in building a naturalistic and compelling type of tense and dense atmosphere, as the theatre group begins to clash more drastically with the father of the lead actress of the play.
Nevertheless, despire the admirable scale of the commitment, the experimentation is not as successful as Moskri's Fish and Cat, which shortly followed it. This is simply because the film lacks focus and drags in the sequences where no clear threat dominates the on screen action. Perhaps it is also due to the unbalance in the focus on the many characters that populate the action - an essential flaw in the balance between screenplay and intent. Whilst there are admirable elements in the cinematography, that rarely seems jugged and dry despite the meticulous motions it is required to follow.
It's hard to blame the cast for the staleness of the overall film. However, everyone's performance is upstaged by the natural charisma of Amir Jafari, who plays the father. His over protectiveness is frightened and sinister, and his internal conflict is also revealed by the fact that this is certainly the most hauntingly ambivolent character that hits the screen throughout the duration of the film. The drawback is that the other figures pale in comparison. But despite this, the interesting excercise that is Bending the Rules remains admirable on a stylistic level - certainly flawed but representational of a certain "nouvelle vague" of modern Iranian filmmaker's bravery that is certainly worth keeping an eye on.
