Abjad

reviewed Sun, 25 Apr 2004

This is so not something any of you will ever see, but just in case... tonight's Film Fest offering was Abjad, an Iranian coming-of-age story (I think -- it wasn't always clear what was going on).  It's actually quite charming in its own way, and I suppose if you speak Farsi, it's even funnier, because I was in the middle of a crowd of Iranians, and they were cracking up constantly.  They probably also understood the context in which the story takes place; lacking that, I had a hard time figuring out some basic issues.  The subtitles translate every other sentence or so and no signs, and the movie presupposes a knowledge of Islam and Iranian history and politics that I simply don't possess.

But the main character, Emkan, a teenager rebelling against the strictures of Islam, is tremendously charismatic, even if I never figured out if he was being willfully rebellious or was just naive when he did forbidden things like attempt to play a violin, read Dostoevsky, draw portraits, paint political slogans (as a job, not as a form of personal expression), or see a movie (his mother warns him dolefully that "on Judgment Day, the money spent on cinema will become hot coals and will be laid on the sinner's body."  Oh man, am I ever screwed!)  His worst transgression, though, is falling for Maassoum, the Jewish daughter of the movie theater owner.  This part of the story, of course, needs no translation, but the part where he tries to track her down after she and her family become refugees does, which was unfortunate, because it was during this section of the movie that the frame slipped and the subtitles were no longer visible, so I'm sure there was some crucial dialogue that I missed that would explain why he was walking along a beach, then suddenly in jail, then on a boat.

All the characters in the movie are vividly drawn and charming -- Emkan's father is a comically gruff patriarch who nonetheless defends his son when the chips are down, Emkan's grandfather slyly subverts his son's authority by encouraging Emkan's artistic pursuits, Maassoum is beautifully alluring yet also spirited and mischievous.  I enjoyed the movie while I was watching it, though it was fairly long and, as I said, I could have stood a little hand-holding in terms of what was going on, but the ending is so abrupt and unsatisfying that I left the theater feeling a bit cheated.

On the other hand, like I said, I highly doubt any of you are ever going to get the chance to see this film (and even if you do, very few of you would choose to watch it), so this is probably all moot.   (Also, I have no idea what the hell "Abjad" means -- children in Koranic school spelled it out, but the subtitles didn't bother to actually translate it.  For some reason, it makes me think of An Yang on "Arrested Development" saying, "An Yang," but that's probably because I just watched the season finale, and let's all pray it will be back next season or at least come out on DVD.)

Back to homepage
Reviews A to F
Reviews G to L
Reviews M to R
Reviews S to Z
Search