The Runner

A deeply humanistic story that may remind you of the works of Kiarostami or De Sica, centered on an orphan living on the streets of a port city in Iran. We never know what happened to the boy's parents, we just see him making money by doing odd jobs like collecting bottles in the ocean, selling ice water, and shining shoes. There is obviously hardship, but he also has time to be a kid and do things like ride bikes with his ragtag group of friends. We also see his interest in planes and boats, his desire to go places for adventure, and his enrolling in a school to learn to read. Never once does he moan about his fate.

The cinematography is wonderful, doubly impressive given the impoverished conditions. Director Amir Naderi is also masterful in getting us invested in this boy, and the moments of fighting or when he's cheated are keenly felt. We see that life is a battle, but probably more importantly, we see critical moments of compassion, and that's at the heart of what otherwise could have been a very grim affair. There are moments where the boy needs to stand up for himself and fight (e.g. With the drunken foreigner who accuses him of stealing), times he has to run (e.g. With the guy trying to steal his block of ice), and times when he's empathetic to others (e.g. With the friend struggling at the end of a race). It's also story of resilience, and one gets the feeling that this kid is going to be a success despite where he's coming from. Imagine my surprise when I found this was autobiographical. I guess he did end up making it!

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.

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."

Amir Naderi is a pivotal figure in Iranian cinema, both before and after the revolution. In fact, considering the past two decades, we can also observe his contributions to European and American cinema.

"Davandeh" (The Runner), etched in history as the first film made after the Iranian Islamic Revolution, bears the marks of this tumultuous period (with not even a single female cast member to fill the screen).

Perhaps due to Naderi's background as a photographer, he, along with cinematographer Firooz Malekzadeh, has captured some truly epic frames. So much so that I found myself wanting to pause and take screenshots at numerous points throughout the film.

While the film has been praised for its authentic portrayal of Iran's encounter with modernity, for Iranian cinema enthusiasts like myself, it presents a rather problematic progression and handling of the subject matter.

It's as if Naderi had a premonition of what was to befall Iran (he wouldn't have fled to the US if he didn't have foresight), and in the screenplay, he abandoned decades of Iranian cinema's know-how in favor of the Orientalism desired by Western cinema. This is evident in the scenes where European Union flags are conspicuously placed within the frame, and the protagonist's gaze towards them raises questions about the script's credibility.

As one of the rare Iranian films featuring the sea (and even a shark), it's likely that this very aspect secured its immediate acceptance into the Venice Film Festival.

We are confronted with an editing style and protagonist tracking that is quite unfamiliar to us in Iranian cinema (or at least to the world, and to us Turks, accustomed to Yesilcam Cinema). The majority of the scenes serve neither the main character's development arc nor the overall narrative.

Despite its inherent flaws, this film, a significant piece within the Iranian cinema landscape, was recently restored in 4K by Criterion. If you happen to come across it, I recommend at least a cursory viewing.

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.