Like "White Balloon", it focuses on the lives of ordinary children. Unlike "White Balloon" which stretches over one incident in realtime, "Children...." involves a string of events and problems encountered by them. It was very interesting to see how they go about solving it. These solutions, funny or ineffective they might be, exude innocence, which is the very soul of this masterpiece.That untainted innocence is unattainable by conventional city dwellers, both young and old. Like almost all Iranian productions, everything was done in the most authentic way, more real than dramatic.It would have easily taken the dramatic turn by exploiting the hard lives the kids are having to gain sympathy. Fortunately, that fact was downplayed so as not to get in the way of storytelling or perhaps, what I perceived as hardships might be a common sight in Iran ( I hope not).
Iranian productions like to end on a pondering note but that does not always mean open ended endings. I guess with all the loose ends tied up there's no need to go any further by including a most probably corny conclusion. So they left the obvious to imagination and fired off a last burst of lingering creativity, then subtly the curtain fell.
If you have not seen any Iranian films and wonder what's the big fuss about? This will be a very good one to start with because of its accessibility, in other words, it's of relatively high entertainment value for an arthouse fare. But if you adore Iranian films, then this one could be a little less intriguing. Nonetheless, it's still as endearingly heartfelt.
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