A First Film Milad Co. production. (International sales: First Film Milad, Tehran.) Produced by Maryam Ashrafi. Directed, edited by Abolfazl Jalili. Screenplay, Abolfazl Jalili, Milad Jalili.
Navid - Navid Raisi
Mahrokh - Jamileh Baluchi
Madame Sakineh - Sakineh Azadi
A charmingly offbeat social comedy about an ingenious Iranian boy thwarted in his twin ambitions to become a village teacher and marry a girl he has glimpsed, "Full or Empty" (also known as "Null or Score") brings out the gentle wit of filmmaker Abolfazl Jalili, best known for dramas like autobiographical "The First Letter." Here again a young man bucks society, tradition and everything else in the stubborn pursuit of his dreams. This small film, practically a one-man production, has earned a cheer and a laugh from festival audiences wherever it plays. It should slip quietly into small artfilm niches.
Navid (Navid Raisi), who is 17, leaves his village for a port city near the Pakistan border, seeking employment as a teacher of Persian literature. Told he needs two letters of recommendation from local citizens, he finds an old sheep farmer and a widow living in a hovel, Madame Sakineh (Sakineh Azadi), to vouch for him. Then he's told to produce police documents showing he has no criminal record. While waiting for authorization to teach, he demonstrates his can-do spirit in a host of odd jobs, from animal guardian to pool hall bouncer to barber. Almost everything lands him in trouble, especially his insistent courtship of pretty Mahrokh (Jamileh Baluchi), whom he barely knows. But Navid, part poet and part businessman, never loses hope.
The climactic scene, when at last he gets called before the school authorities to face the final hurdle, ironically caps this droll tale with a toss of the dice -- and a nod to the children's game from which the film takes its title.
Jalili develops the story with a light tone and a lot of local color. Set in the region of Baluchistan, the film offers a different view of non-urban Iranian society, where poverty is accepted by villagers.
A deadpan nonpro cast, often playing characters with their own names, lend their faces to the fable-like adventures of the crazy idealist Navid, his landlady and confidante Sakineh, and other village characters. Jalili tends to keep his camera close to the action and uses sets like the schoolroom or the gate in front of Mahrokh's house repeatedly, to simple, comic effect. In contrast, a few long shots stick in the memory, particularly the sandy beach where Navid sets up his outdoor "International Barbershop" and Sakineh's lonely hovel, where he plants a plastic palm tree.
Camera (color), Abolfazl Jalili; music, Abolfazl Jalili; art director, Abolfazl Jalili; sound, Mehdi Asadi. Reviewed at Fajr Film Festival (noncompeting), Jan. 27, 2006. (Also in Tokyo Filmex, Pusan, Rotterdam film festivals.) Running time: 98 MIN.
With: Vahid Khadir, Yasin Khoshamad Zehi.
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Date in print: Mon., Feb. 13, 2006