REPORT CARD DAY

Iran, 2000, 90 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Massud Karamati.

Report Card Day is a very entertaining film. While it focuses on an eight-year-old and his reaction to his failure in spelling on his report card and his deciding to jump off a building because he is an embarrassment to his family, the film also focuses on a man just out of prison bent on revenge against the business partner who defrauded him. The two characters intertwine in the building, escape from the building, encounter the police in the park but, with the boy telling the man about his failure, they become friends. During the day they have a number of adventures, meeting the man's wife, his buying a gun in the desert, the siege at his partner's house and the final confrontation with the gun. In the meantime, the boy's father, a middle-class doctor, is at his wit's end trying to find out what happened to the boy.

The boy himself is a natural actor, commanding the screen when he is there, powerful in his facial expressions and attitudes. The man matches him and they form an unlikely couple who keep audience interest and emotions very strong in trying to find out what will actually happen to each of them. Each saves the other.

1. A crowd-pleasing entertainment? Story of a little boy? Story of a victim? Their interactions? Ultimately saving each other?

2. The affluent background of Teheran, the school, the houses, the office blocks and offices? Cars and streets, parks? The contrast with the desert? The musical score?

3. The title, the focus on the report card, the schoolteacher and his reprimanding the boy, the boy taking his card home, leaving it for his parents with his suicide note, the card blowing under the sofa, the little girl finding it at the end - and the final freeze-frame as he realises that his parents have at last seen the card?

4. The character of the boy, Arad? His receiving his card, his going to the teacher, his being reprimanded for spelling, an embarrassment to his family? His being picked on by his older brother? His sister being spoilt? His going home, tidying his room, washing the dishes, leaving the note? His phone call to Hamid and telling him what he planned? Going to the building, using the woman to get inside, the guard getting him out again? The different attempts and his failure? The guard and his anger about the kids on the lift? The shot and his getting inside the building, going to that floor, finding out what happened? Going up onto the roof, seeing Amir wanting to jump off? His failure? The meeting of the two, his wanting to jump, the discussions with Amir, the gun? Amir threatening him and his realising he didn't want to die? The guard and his gun, their forcing him to change his clothes, the boy's idea? Going downstairs, Amir captured, his taking Arad as hostage? Their getting out of the building, the escape? In the park, the argument, the couple reporting them to the police? The interrogation by the policeman, his sympathy after hearing the story, putting on the handcuffs, Arad running off? Arad buying the insecticide, Amir stopping him drinking it? Their going off together, his telling him the wrong name? The appointment with Amir's wife and Arad learning his story? Going into the desert to buy the bullets, Arad persuading him to throw them away, Amir keeping two? The accident and Amir and Arad being injured by the car? Going to his partner's house, the wife and son, waiting, the man coming back, the confrontation, taking him with the gun, the partner's confession, his fear? Arad watching, persuading Amir not to kill him? His going back home? Amir listening through the communication system at Arad's being welcomed home? Arad and his parents, brother and sister, the welcome, Hamid and his phone calls, finally the report surfacing?

5. The character of Amir, seeing him on the roof, desperate, changing uniforms with the guard, taking Arad as hostage? His kindness in the park, with the insecticide, the accident? His becoming a father-figure to Arad? His wife and the deprivation of six years, wanting to see his son? Her not believing him? The truth of his story? The bullets in the desert, the siege, his confrontation of his partner? His not shooting him, taking Arad home? The promise of seeing him again with his own son?

6. The partner, being shot, only wounded, with the police? Well-to-do, prosperous? His return home, the confrontation, his fear, promise of recompense? His wife and son and their fear?

7. Arad's parents, professionals, high standards, their attitude towards their son, telling him he was an embarrassment? The effect on an eight-year-old? His brother and sister? Hamid and the computer games, friendship, phone calls, going with the father to the office? The mother returning and fainting on the news? The critique of professional parents?

8. The incidental characters: the policeman in the park and his kindliness, his own son's failure at exams? The couple concerned in the park? The guard and his suspicions? The gun and bullet-seller?

9. A satisfying entertainment at all levels?