THE WHITE BALLOON Movie Review

Badkonake Sefid

Just before the eagerly anticipated celebration of New Year's Day in Teheran, Razieh (Aïda Mohammadkhani), a seven-year-old girl with an incredibly serious, completely irresistible face, loses the money she was given to buy a special, plump goldfish, a symbol of harmony for the new year. Over the next hour and a half, The White Balloon traces, in real time, little Razieh's determined quest to recover the money and return home with her prized fish. The White Balloon is a complete delight, though it's not just a simple comedy. The screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami (Taste of Cherry) is enormously sensitive to Razieh's plight, and never condescends or dismisses her problem as simple kid's stuff. What charms us is the child's intelligence, ingenuity, and persistence, as well as the elegant, spare direction of first-time filmmaker Jafar Panahi. And if you're looking for a picture with which to introduce children to the “grown-up” world of foreign-language films, The White Balloon is an ideal place to jump in. Cannes Film Festival Camera d'Or award for Best First Feature.

NEXT STOP … The Bicycle Thief, The Red Balloon, Through the Olive Trees

1995 85m/C Aida Mohammadkhani, Mohsen Kalifi, Fereshteh Sadr Ofrani, Anna Bourkowska, Mohammad Shahani, Mohammad Bahktiari; D: Jafar Panahi; W: Abbas Kiarostami; C: Farzad Jowdat. New York Film Critics Awards ‘96: Best Foreign Film. VHS HMK