A young girl and her Russian father are called into school to meet with her teacher. He is an immigrant with limited English, leaving his daughter with the task of acting as translator as the teacher highlights some integration challenges she is seeing.
The setup for this film is simple, and it occurs in two distinct locations - the classroom and the home (predominately the former). This focused structure is matched by a focus in the content which makes the film work very well indeed, because it homes in on cultural and language challenges as a whole, but compressed down into these few lives as seen in this one interaction. The small details throughout make it work - we don't know all the ins and outs, but we know that the father is working a job that is beneath his ability, doing long hours, and doing it for the benefit of his child. We also know the child is trying to adapt to this new world, while also being kept in her culture by her father. Lots of small touches make things like this clear, but also just part of a much bigger picture.
The cultural tension is best seen in how accurate the 'translating' and communication barrier is between the American and the Russian - with one being culturally more direct and straightforward in use of language. This is a big part of the early interactions, although later when the teacher hits the nail on the head, the girl doesn't want to translate because she understands, agrees, but doesn't want to tell her father (which she essentially would be by repeating the words of her teacher). It is nicely observed throughout, and it makes for such a strong, fully-contained drama by how well it focused on one thing while bringing so much in around it to inform it.
