It is somewhat a sad fact of the human condition that it often takes an extreme situation to bring out the best in people. Given a specific environment, these situations come more often than you might think, thus creating a tremendous emotional challenge for the family unit and its members who have to master them or just do whatever is best. In his director debut “For Rana”, Iranian filmmaker Iman Yazdi, who previously directed short features and worked for Iranian television, aims to tell a story about two families from different social backgrounds within his home country, with a tragedy connecting their fates. “For Rana” is a family drama, but considering the issue of class present in the two families it also wants to show this theme and its consequences within society.
For Rana is screening at Busan International Film Festival
Aref (Hamed Behdad) has been a motocross stunt driver for many years, working in the same position as his father with a circus company on the outskirts of Tehran. He is the main act each night, but he has higher goals as he wants to break the world record for motorcycle jump ramp. His wife Sodabeh (Pantea Panahiha) and his daughter Rana, support him, even though they struggle financially. However, as Rana falls into a coma and has to have a heart transplant as soon as possible, her parents are desperate to find a donor in time to save the life of their daughter.
During one of their visits at the hospital, Rana’s daughter and one of the nurses tell them about a man who would be the perfect donor. As Aref and Sodabeh try to convince the patient’s relatives to sign the appropriate forms, they become entangled in another family conflict, between the man’s wife and his son. The latter agrees to their plea but wants them to pay a high amount of money for his fathers heart. While Rana’s parents try their best to come up with the money, asking friends and relatives, the tension within the patient’s family erupts even further.
Mastering a family drama is a tough task, especially if you want to show your audience something new or even when it comes to aspects such as tension-building and dramaturgy. Iranian cinema has had its fair share of family drama, with the best of them shedding a light not only to personal conflicts, demons and toxic dynamics, but at the same time pointing at how the family unit may be a mirror image of Iranian politics, its methods of suppression and control. “For Rana” lands somewhere in the middle, since its cast and the clash of the two families make for some interesting and emotionally impactful scenes, but the overall predictable and often cliche-filled script cannot be ignored. There is also a deep imbalance between the two stories which we observe, since the family of the patient easily has the more intriguing characters and thus the most potential, which sadly remains unused, safe for a few hints here and there.
In the end, the problematic aspects overshadow those which could be the saving grace for “For Rana”. Hamed Behdad and Payam Ahmadinia (as the patient’s son) both give great, very understated performances, adding a much needed breath of fresh air in a feature whose direction and overall execution is more on the level of a TV feature. Their struggle is silent, as both men do not want others to know what is going on inside of them, which makes the scenes between Payam Ahmadinia’s characters and his father’s wife well worth watching, if you can ignore some rather bizarre dialogues which may be more fitting in a gangster drama. Pantea Panahiha is given the ungrateful task of having to carry the emotional core of “For Rana”, resulting in her character begging, crying and screaming, leading to a finale which brings about perhaps the most questionable development of the whole plot.
“For Rana” is a forgettable and very predictable family drama. While there are some moments which are positive, the overall result is very dissatisfying and problematic, and even frustrating in some parts.