No Date, No Signature

This gripping Iranian drama begins with forensic pathologist Dr. Nariman (Amir Agha’ee) driving on a busy highway one night when another car carelessly runs him off the road. Trying to avert catastrophe, Nariman unintentionally collides with a motorcycle carrying an impoverished family. An 8-year-old boy shrugs off his head bump from the mishap as no big deal, but after giving the child’s angry father, Moosa (Navid Mohammadzadeh), a wad of cash, Nariman recommends that the boy be taken to a nearby health clinic—advice Moosa ignores. Shortly afterward, the child dies and his body is brought to Nariman’s hospital. An autopsy concludes that the cause of death was botulism, but Nariman harbors secret doubts. No Date, No Signature becomes a story of two men, Nariman and Moosa, who feel deeply responsible for the boy’s fate, although for entirely different reasons: was it the accident, or was it rancid food bought on the cheap? Co-writer and director Vahid Jalilvand creates twin lines of falling dominoes as each guilt-ridden character takes desperate actions, making what could have been a contained situation much, much worse. As in the best Iranian dramas, Jalilvand has a strong grasp on the moral parameters within a restricted society’s everyday passions and ordinary tragedies. The world of Nariman’s work, dealing with illness and corpses, is a supersized bureaucracy of multiple protocols that barely manages the flow while routinely dismissing the human element in loss. Iran’s official entry for the Academy Awards, this is highly recommended. (T. Keogh)