The Runner

It is a picture of an orphan boy Amiro living alone in an old ship, he enjoys racing with his friends and makes a living by collecting waste or empty bottles, selling ice water or shining shoes. The airplanes and the boats fascinate him: when they pass, far away in the mist, he screams: "Take me on board". This film just presents its story in a straightforward, objective, slice-of-life manner. I think that's why it's so great than other films which have tried to squeeze a tear from the viewers eye as a sensational expose of juvenile delinquency. The film neglects the focus on the mundane specifics of the boy's daily life and concentrates on the boy's inner, emotional ups and downs. And this is what gives the film near-universal appeal. The scenes in this film have been carefully staged by Naderi and his cinematographer, Firooz Malekzadeh, with superb moving-camera and panning shots, often with long-lens and short depth-of-field imagery, kept gracefully in frame. Madjid Niroumand is wonderful in the role of Amiro, you don't see young actors like this anymore: very rare this expressive, this natural, this charismatic, this confident in front of the camera and talented. Although of dramatic nature, there are elements of comedy in this great film. Amiro is often funny and so is his good friend, he is hilarious in every scene he shows up, even though his role is minor and he barely talks. I recommend this to everyone, see this atleast once, you will definitely add this in your list of favourite world cinemas.

The Runner was perhaps the first of the post-revolution Iranian films to attract worldwide attention, ... and very deservedly so. It set the tone for many of the films which followed: realism, child's eye perspective of the world, innocence, gentleness, set in poor neighbourhoods, exposing great disparities in wealth, resting much of the film on the shoulders of one young actor, using children's lives as analogies for (or explicit expositions of) the problems of the adult world.

Majid Niroumand (Amiro) carries the film and is mesmerizing to watch. Amir Naderi was a famous director in pre-revolution Iran and was best known, if I'm not mistaken, for Tangseer (Tangsir). I've heard that this was the first in, what has been referred to as, "the Amiro trilogy". I would be very interested in finding out about the other two films.

This film still remains as my personal favourite.

An excellent film. An auto biography of the director. The first film that brought the Iranian cinema to the attention of the world. In 1991, when it was shown in Washington DC, the Washington Post wrote of Amir Naderi "the best unknown filmmaker in the world."

I borrowed this one at the local library, and was impressed by it.

It is about a kid living alone on an shored boat. He makes his living by shining shoes, selling cold water to the dock workers. And he and his friends play games like seeing who can run the longest behind the train. The kid in this movie has a powerful will and passion for life.

He turns up at the local school, begging the teacher to let him join class. He says he will do whatever it takes. So he gets the opportunity to learn to read, and does this with passion. He is smart and it all makes a very powerful movie. This little boy had God inside.

If it's true that environment determines character then young Amiro must be something of a hero for having survived so well against such overwhelming odds. Orphaned and illiterate, he wanders the desolate waterfront of a nameless Iranian city, living each day on whatever loose change he can honestly acquire: selling ice water, shining shoes, or foraging for empty bottles at low tide (while oil-laden tankers line the distant horizon).

But the poverty of his surroundings can't dim the dignity of his spirit, in much the same way that the unflinching honesty of the film helps to give it an often exhilarating power. What passes for a storyline is closer in spirit to a cultural documentary, pieced together from several swift, abbreviated episodes leading to the final, profound image of Amiro exultant, holding aloft a large block of ice (the goal of one of his many running 'competitions') while the controlled fires of a nearby oil field rage in the background.

Director Amir Nader was fortunate to cast in the title role a young boy whose face betrays every emotion, from exuberance to heartbreak, and communicates his thoughts independent of the sometimes illegible English subtitles. In its own quiet way it's a stunning film, and a rare, rewarding glimpse of daily life in a little understood part of the world.