Orange Suit

After a day of picking litter (and birdwatching) along the Water of Leith, what better than a film about a man who decides to become a street sweeper!

A photojournalist finds a book about Feng Shui, left in his apartment by his son's tutor, and becomes obsessed with the idea of purifying himself and his surroundings. After obsessively cleaning and reorganising his home, he wanders through Tehran and notices all the rubbish left around. First he starts to take photographs but then he decides he needs to do something more practical so he signs up to become a street sweeper.

Due to his connections in the media, he becomes the most famous street sweeper in Iran and is pursued through the streets by a posse of his erstwhile colleagues and gathers crowds when he ends up in hospital. This fame means that his photography exhibition, highlighting the strange beauty to be found in garbage, is incredibly well attended. Meanwhile the news of his fame spreads as far as Norway, where his wife is studying. She becomes concerned about the effect that the street sweeping and fame will be having on their son and rushed home to shout and scream at her husband.

This is a very entertaining film that highlights the vital work of street cleaners. At the same time it examines family dynamics, comments on the media's obsession with creating celebrity. It also gives an insightful view of Tehran.

Orange Suit was shown as part of the Middle Eastern Film Festival at Edinburgh Filmhouse.

Also showing are:

Modest Reception (which was in the 2012 Edinburgh International Film Festival and which I review here) (showing 8.40 Thursday 14 February (it might be a nice, quirky Valentine's Day date movie) and

Lemon Tree, which I saw a few years ago, but oddly seem not to have reviewed - it's definitely worth seeing though. A story of a Palestinian woman whose lemon trees are threatened with destruction by the Israeli security forces. This shows at 6.10pm Wednesday 20 February.

Poets of Protest might also be good, it's showing at 3.30pm on Sunday 17 February.

Lotos of other good films showing too! You can see the whole programme of the festival on the Filmhouse website.