Iranian filmmaker Jafar Pinahi's debut feature The White Balloon tells the story of Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani), a seven-year-old girl intent on buying a new goldfish in time for Tehran's annual New Year's Day festivities (in Iranian culture, the goldfish is a symbol of life). Upon badgering her mother into giving her a 500-toman banknote, Razieh heads off to the marketplace alone; it is her first real experience away from her parents' watchful eyes, and the excitement and wonder she feels is
palpable. Told in real time, the film's sensitive portrayal of Razieh's wide-eyed misadventures superbly conveys the impact which an otherwise unremarkable chain of events can indelibly leave upon the life of a child. Her struggle to prove her independence is dramatically undercut when she loses the banknote not once but twice, but her spirit and ingenuity nevertheless remain indefatigable. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Panahi has much the same kind of talent, a concern to make his film a kind of home for its characters, but he has not yet found [Kiarostami's] secret, how to find and hold the still point of the turning world.
Raziah takes everything at face value, forcing us to look again at people and situations we would immediately judge as good or bad -- reason enough to see this film.
In an era when ethnic hatred turns groups against each other, it is salutary to come across a film about universal qualities linking people from different cultures.
It was brilliant, specially the simplicity of the movie, It is about a girl who sets out to buy a goldfish, but things happen on the way.This is a very slow paced movie. The plot is thin in terms and it frustrated me in the beginning with distractive style. However it is quite funny on the surface.
May 4, 2009
Daisy Maduro
Super Reviewer
watched this when i was feeling sick and had a day off school... it only takes place on like 2 streets but it kept me wondring... it was sort of like you was on the quest for the fish as well.... i liked this movie because it was just realistic and like an everyday event that people can go through
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