‘Vegas’ Examines Illusion of Relationships

Venturesome independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi follows up his autobiographical “A Little Stiff”--a wry, deadpan evocation of a shy young man’s obsessive love--with the similar “I Don’t Hate Las Vegas Anymore,” in which fiction and reality are blurred even more.

Ostensibly playing himself, Zahedi addresses his audience at length on his need to replace fear with faith and to become closer to his father and 16-year-old brother, whom he persuades to accompany him to celebrate Christmas Eve in Las Vegas. The entire experience is being filmed by his cameramen Greg Watkins (his co-director on his first film) and Steve Ausbury and recorded by his sound engineer Denise Montgomery, who also appear on camera. Zahedi very much makes the filmmaking process part of his apparently improvised venture, in which he considers God to be his co-pilot.

Once again the resourceful Zahedi has turned a minuscule budget to advantage. Zahedi, ever wistful, undercuts with humor his self-absorption as he tries to reach out to his likable father and to his no-nonsense brother, who demands $500 upfront for his participation in the film and $50 more to do the driving.

Much to his father’s and brother’s chagrin, Zahedi insists that a little Ecstasy all around is just what’s needed to open hearts and make “communion” possible. It seems that Zahedi feels envious of his younger brother, who he believes to have a far closer relationship with their father than he, as a child of divorce, has had.

Among many other observations, Zahedi remarks that he believes that the world is an illusion, an idea that applies directly to “Vegas,” in which we’re never really sure whether anybody actually takes Ecstasy, thus leaving us to ponder whether people really are able to communicate with each other, no matter how much love and good intentions are involved. In his roundabout way, Zahedi suggests that relationships are as much a matter of faith as a belief in God.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: The film depicts and, via its key character, endorses drug-taking and is therefore unsuitable for impressionable children and adolescents.

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‘I Don’t Hate Las Vegas Anymore’

Caveh Zahedi: Bobby

Ali Zahedi: George

Amin Zahedi: John

Denise Montgomery: D.

Greg Watkins: As himself

Steve Ausbury: As himself

A World Artists and Complex Corp. presentation. Writer-director Caveh Zahedi. Producer Henry S. Rosenthal. Camera Greg Watkins. Assistant camera Steve Ausbury. Sound Denise Montgomery. Editor Suzanne Smith. Running time: 1 hour, 14 minutes.

* Exclusively at the Grande 4-Plex for one week, 345 S. Figueroa St., downtown Los Angeles, (213) 617-0268.