Jackson Booth-Millard
This Iranian film was one I found listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it was selected as an entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, but was not accepted as a nominee, I hoped it would be worthwhile. Basically in Teheran, it is the eve of the Iranian New Year, seven-year-old Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani) has seen a goldfish in a shop and begins nagging her hurrying Mother (Fereshteh Sadr Orfani) to buy it for the festivities instead of the skinny ones in her family's pond at home. On their way home, the mother and daughter pass a crowd of men gathered to watch two snake charmers, Razieh wants to see what is happening, but her mother pulls her away. Back home, Razieh is upset her mother is refusing to let her a new goldfish but continues her campaign of nagging. Her older brother Ali (Mohsen Kalifi) returns from a shopping errand for their father, he is unseen, but his presence causes tension in the family, he complains that we asked for shampoo, not soap. When Ali returns with the shampoo, Razieh enlists his help in changing her mother's mind about the goldfish, bribing him with a balloon, insisting she can buy it for 100 tomans. Razieh finally gets her wish, her mother gives her the family's last 500-toman banknote and asks her to bring back the change, she sets off with an empty glass jar to the fish shop a few blocks away. On the way, Razieh stops to watch the snake charmers, one of them takes the banknote from her to wrap around a snake, tempting her to grab it back, but they eventually give it back to her, seeing that she is getting upset. Then while running to the shop, she stops outside a cake shop for a moment, she reaches the shop selling goldfish, but then she realises she has lost her money. An Old Woman (Anna Bourkowska) takes pity on Razieh and helps her to retrace her steps and find the banknote, it is found in a grate that leads to the basement of a shop. After the old woman leaves, the money has fallen into the grate and the basement of the shop, which is closed for the New Year celebration. Ali comes along, as his sister has been gone for some time, together they try to find a way to retrieve the money and receive help from many people, including the Tailor shop owner (Mohammad Bakhtiari) next door and an Iranian soldier (Mohammad Shahani). The money is just out of reach, but the fish shop owner promises he will try not to sell the fat white and orange goldfish until the little girl returns. Finally, the siblings receive help from a young Afghan street vendor (Aliasghar Samadi) selling balloons, he carries his balloons on a wooden stick, he has a white one left. The group attach a piece of chewing gum to the end of his stick, and with it, reach down into the basement through the grate and pull the money out. In the end, Ali and Razieh run off to buy the goldfish, leaving the balloon seller sitting alone on the grate, the siblings pass him and are happy to finally have the fish, and the change, and the boy walks away with his white balloon. Also starring Hamidreza Tahery as Reza and Asghar Barzegar as the Pet Shop Manager. It is a very simple story, a journey of discovery for a little girl desperate to buy a goldfish, and her desperate attempts to get the money back to buy it, Mohammadkhani is cute, and her insights make the ordinary seem miraculous, it is slow and annoying in parts, but overall it is a delightful drama. Good!
princebansal1982
I hated this film when I saw it first time. I though that the little girl was a brat. But as I was watching it this time, I realized how unfair that was. She was just a girl. I guess we are so used to watching adorable and cute kids in films, that a selfish kid seems so unlikable. But kids are like that. Selfish and impatient and whining. Once I accepted that I was laughing at her antics.I loved the film but it lost me in the scene, when the girl's brother and the afghan kid fight. I mean there was no reason for that. I think in real life, the brother would have at least asked the afghan kid for the stick and wouldn't have just snatched it. Maybe it was done to evoke a conflict. But even one false scene can break the illusion that is Cinema.
bob the moo
Young Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani) needs to buy a goldfish to celebrate the New Year in Iran. Her mother (Fereshteh Sadr Orfani) gives her the money and she sets out to buy said fish. Along the way she continually loses the money and must rely on the kindness of strangers to help her.This is a very slight film. It's plot is wafer thin in terms of traditional narrative, it may well frustrate many viewers with it's gentling strolling style. However it is quite funny on the surface. The many people who come and go during Razieh's journey are amusing - from the tailor berating a customer for having a small face causing his shirts to not look correctly tailored to the antics of the honest snake charmers. It's not a laugh out loud type of film but it does have a gentle humour throughout that is fun if you are in the mood for it.In fact you really need to be in the mood for the whole thing - if you're lacking patience then you'll probably not last out this film but if you're willing to stick with it then you may be pleasantly surprised by the whole thing. The story doesn't grip you, but the humour helps to divert attention from this. In fact the guts of this film seems to be a message on the nature of society.Throughout the film Razieh finds herself relying on the kindness or honesty of strangers to help her get her money. The towards the end one of the characters (a soldier played by Mohammad Shaani) talks to Razieh about his sisters and about what he has in common with her. He then defends himself when Ali (Mohsen Kalifi) attacks his sister for talking with strangers. This is closely followed by a short scene where all the characters that had interacted with Razieh cross the screen at the same time without really acknowledging each other. The message here is clear - that society is a lot closer knit than we think and it's only times of trouble where we turn to others. Instead we should develop the relationships with strangers that we easily could.However this message is not delivered until the end of the film and it's only then that you understand what you've been watching. However the gentle comedy of the strangers make it easy to follow the film till this conclusion. Unlike other reviewers I don't think Mohammadkani was that good - she did come across as a very weepy brat and it was hard to sympathise with the problems that are all her own fault. However the other roles are good, Kalifi is the best child actor as Razieh and the other characters seem natural and forced (although Shahani's soldier is a bit preachy).Overall a gently amusing film that is light on plot, but delivers it's simple message intelligently without forcing it down your throat.
