COURTESY CINEMA PARADISE A boy who witnesses a crime runs for his life through the Iranian desert in "Dead Heat Under the Sun."

Iranian filmmaker parlays
Hitchcockian pursuit

"Dead Heat Under the Shrubs" Playing 5:15 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Monday

Iranian filmmaker Esmael Barari's "Dead Heat Under the Shrubs" is a "Lawrence of Arabia" meets "North By Northwest."

As the sun rises over the Iranian desert on a typical morning, a boy leaves his home to collect shrubs to sell at the local market. At the same time, a visibly desperate woman sets out in her battered car to dump the body of her lover into the town well.

The boy is the only witness to her crime, so he must die, too.

She speeds up in her car to get the boy, who literally runs for his life. But the boy is no newcomer to the Iranian desert and he uses his knowledge to evade her.

This Hitchcockian pursuit leads through ancient ruins, goat herders' cottages, underground aqueducts and finally to the boy's house and a gruesome end.

The boy's desire for revenge and the woman's deteriorating health and increasing disorientation mean that the original reason for the chase is quickly forgotten. So is the distinction between pursuer and pursued.

"Dead ..." has the simplest of plots, so the magic isn't found in the story but the sheer tension and the stark vistas of the desert. Barari's cinematography bathes the dawning desert in a gentle mystery entirely at odds with the frantic chase being played out.

This is a minor gem of a film.