Shockproof is a salacious title befitting something co-written by Sam Fuller. (Shockproof Corridor). And it's directed by Douglas Sirk, so there is promise of high key of socially barbed melodrama. But this isn't either of those guys at peak form. It does have drama, and Fuller's theme of a female parolee brushing up to polite society, in burnished black and white. But it's just a little too tame for its own good, particularly the parole officer who has his shockingly well dressed female charge live with him, his kid brother, and blind Italian mom. It'd never fly in court.

Significant bravery, badassness, can be deceptive. This diary-like film of a woman deigning to wear a hijab to a family gathering has a gentle naturalism that makes you forget that women are killed for what Elahe Esmaili, the director and subject, does here. She has such an easy charisma, an infectious smile, and hardy head of hair. Her mother is perturbed, her sisters nervous, but men seem to be calmer in demeanor. There is menace lurking around the edges, but this makes its point with heart.