Among the petty street thugs and young hustlers living in the far-flung outskirts of Baku is Rustam, a teenaged boy with aspirations to musical stardom. Upon hearing of his father’s death, Rustam is forced to find a way to provide for him and his mother that doesn’t involve crime. A mix of folklore?the title of the film derives from a local legend about a prince that rescues a princess from a palace that has 40 doors, each part of his trial?and rags to riches fantasy, [The 40th Door] is rich in imagery and metaphor; the 40th Door is also the name the locals use to refer to their dead-end town’s invisible barrier. Rustam’s personal journey is one loaded with realizations of the world beyond his town, and demands that he find a maturity he has never had to call upon. This is a film wherein minor triumphs are tempered by obstacles that chip away at clear-eyed innocence, but that never completely quash common dignity or decency.