Breaking the Cycle review – meet the charismatic Thai politician striving to change his country’s history

Gripping documentary examines the Future Forward Party’s unprecedented 2019 election result, and its leader’s aim to break Thailand’s repeated military coups With his disarming good looks, pro-democracy activist and businessman Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit resembles an actor rather than a typical Thai politician. Heir to the country’s largest car manufacturer, he is blessed not only with personable charisma but also inexhaustible funds. His stunning rise into public consciousness is the beating heart of Aekaphong Saransate and Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn’s debut film, a thrilling documentary about an extraordinary political campaign that shook a nation. As founder of the progressive Future Forward Party (FFP), Juangroongruangkit’s central message cut through the noise of electoral politics: secure a brighter future by correcting the wrongs of the past. Since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand has undergone a never-ending cycle of military takeovers, including 12 coups. Dur...

Law of Tehran review – ferocious Michael Mann-style thriller of the Iranian underworld

A barnstorming – and ultimately gruesome – opening sequence sets the grisly action-packed tone, as a morally ambiguous cop takes on a powerful drug lord

If Michael Mann made a movie in Iran it might look like this: a ferocious drama-thriller in which a haunted, morally ambiguous cop faces off with a despairing drug lord. We begin with a barnstorming chase sequence in which an officer runs after a drug dealer holding a bag of heroin; the scene climaxes with a shockingly nasty end for the dealer, setting a gruesome tone for the rest of the film.

The director is Saeed Roustayi, whose Leila’s Brothers was in competition at Cannes last year; this is in fact his previous film. Payman Maadi (from Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation) is police officer Samad, who is losing the “war on drugs”; gangsters have murdered the son of his subordinate, so his team’s dedication to bringing down the drug dealers has a new fanatical energy. Navid Mohammadzadeh is Naser, a drug kingpin who is already feeling his dominion crumbling.

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