The Deer

Many characters in Careless Crime are obsessed with Masud Kimiai’s The Deer (1974). They ask each other fun-fact questions about the film, recite dialogues and re-enact scenes; of the film itself, we get little more than a glimpse.

For local audiences, this is more than enough because The Deer is a truly popular national cinema treasure – most Iranians will know it, or at least recognise references to it. But outside the country, it’s somewhat different, mainly because Masud Kimiai − Iran’s Sam Peckinpah − a master of tough-as-nails crime melodramas, was never as much cultivated here as other auteurs of Iran’s New Wave, like Parviz Kimiavi or Dariush Mehrjui (whose 1969 The Cow opened the first IFFR).

The Deer is a typical Kimiai-style tale of friendship and honour. When a good man fallen on hard times meets his erstwhile protégé, fate puts their relationship to the ultimate test: will you die for me?