Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Maybe my priorities are out of whack but I find this movie so much more exciting then most of Hollywood dreck that explodes onto 2,000 screens every weekend. The simplistic plot was so usual to me that I was giddy in explaining it to anyone who would listen.Now listen to this plot: A little Tehranian girl goes to the center of town to buy a goldfish for the New Year's Eve party. Along the way she drops her money through the grate in the sidewalk. The man who owns the shop behind it has gone home for the day.The movie follows her frustration as she and her brother tried several different ways to retrieve the money through a series of characters who come along to help. You can almost place yourself in this story. You want to help these children get the money knowing that it's New Year's Eve and they don't have all day.The only way to judge this film is to imagine how Hollywood might have tried it. I think that, the girl's money probably would have been stolen by a crook leading to some lame 'Home Alone' ending.Like I said, maybe my priorities are misplaced but I found this little girl's struggle so much more captivating than fifty cars that get blown up real good.

It was my big sister's turn to pick a film to go to when we were gorging ourselves in what the Reykjavik cinema festival had to offer back in the days. Didn't expect anything but mushy boredom for an hour and a half. Instead of the sentimental torture I had braced myself for, I became spellbound by this beautiful story that totally held me captivated right from the beginning to the end. The little girl, Aida who plays the protagonist, was ever so sincere and true in her role that you forgot you were watching a film, and even I felt a couple of masculine tears running down my cheeks. The White Balloon is simply a gorgeous film and it's out of the blue quirky humor elevates it even further. Even with the wet towel slap in the end, I truly loved the whole of this Persian confect buffet down to it's last bit, ... and still do!

This movie, as has been said before, enters the world of children. But it does it with such a lack of full credit for grace and feeling. It never belittles children - in fact, it makes adults look like the buffoons they are. You feel for every victory and defeat they have and get engrossed in their plots and problems. The encounters with common Iranians is also wonderful, especially the soldier at the end. Perhaps the most natural example of child acting is shown through Rezayeh - I am surprised she was never nominated for anything in this film. Her other films are also great, but nothing matches "The White Balloon" Not to be missed - one of the best Iranian films of all time, without question.

A little girl in Tehran wants to buy a goldfish before the New Year arrives. She manages to persuade her mother to give her the money, then goes out into the streets to buy her fish. And that's where the adventure starts.From this simple storyline, Panahi constructs a beautiful film about a child moving through an adult world. You become so wrapped up in this little girl's world, that the mishaps along the way to buying this fish become like the elements of a suspenseful thriller.Well worth seeing.