Four strangers, one check, zero trust — Iranian New Wave noir where Friday changes everything.
Four men: Akbar, a taxi driver, Mansour, a government employee, Mustafa, a boxer, and Qasem, a smuggler, return a man's stolen wallet, and the man issues a check for forty thousand tomans in their names as a reward. The next day is a holiday, and they, who do not trust each other, move into Mansour's house. Mansour lives with his wife and daughter Marzieh, and Mustafa falls in love with the girl, who has already been deceived. Mustafa defeats his opponent in the Asian qualifying match, which is held on Friday. In the meantime, Qasem arranges with his friends to be ready on Saturday when the check is collected and to steal the wallet. Qasem's accomplices intervene, and Mansour is killed in a fight with Qasem's bullets. Qasem is arrested, and Mansour, at the last moment, hands his daughter over to Mustafa.
Direction
Ghadakchian's claustrophobic staging in Mansour's cramped apartment.
Acting
Parviz Fanizadeh's sweaty desperation as the boxer who knows he's losing.
Cinematography
Gritty 1970s Tehran streetscapes before the revolution erased them.
Director
Kamran Ghadakchian
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Iran's brief pre-revolutionary cinematic golden age, when social realist noirs flourished before 1979's Islamic Revolution shuttered such secular storytelling.
The 'Friday' title carries double weight: religious sabbath peace that never arrives, and the boxing match that ironically crowns Mustafa's ruin.
IR
