उपयोगकर्ता समीक्षाएं

The fact that this film is set in Tehran makes it more then just a good little "slice of life" film. The setting and story give us a glimpse into ordinary life in one of the places that we westerners only read about in the newspapers and then only when bad things are happening there.

The story chronicles second grade student Mina's eventful trip home from school on a day that her mother fails to show up to take her home. Mina travels by scooter, bus, taxi and on foot through the frantic traffic of downtown Tehran. On her way home she meets with and overhears conversations by many different people from an old woman, to a police officer, to a auto mechanic. Mina also manages to quit the movie about half way through yet her odyssey continues anyway hence the film's title. Mina is very fresh and cute, the bit players are all very real and the trip home from school is fraught with situations that waiver between poignient to funny. Everything adds up to a film well worth watching.

Although this is no Hollywood, but just like another day in LA the poor director is having trouble with his temperamental star, save by quick thinking he somehow has turn this film into (perhaps) a far more interesting movie then he has intended.

Little Mina is a good actress, if not a very professional one, but one should consider that she is only in second year of her primary school and she has plenty of character to make up for it.

The film follows the day of Mina, and how she was trying to find her way home which mirrors the story of the film she no longer wants to take part in. The film lets us see the world from a little girl's point of view, hear her thoughts... it's a little reminder of how it was when we were little... being a child is not easy... no one wants to take you seriously, it takea you twice the time just to dial at a payphone, you don't remember those funny names grown up call those road.

It is a very interesting film, perhaps slow at first, but it will certainly make you laughs, make you think.

One of the most brilliant movies you'll ever see! Before the 38-minute mark, you will be caught up in the drama of a lost little second grade school girl wandering along the perilous traffic of Teheran. After the 38-minute mark, one of the most incredible experiences in cinema begins: the meltdown of Mina the Diva. This tiny, squeaky voiced actress refuses to participate in the film anymore, and 4 minutes after her meltdown, director Panahi makes a split second decision that changed the film and his career: KEEP FILMING. The next hour is filled with more drama than any script could ever create: (a) Mina sheds her scarf, an arm cast and clothing before she storms off the bus in a rebellion as bold as a student uprising during the Revolution, (b) After yelling to the camera man to LAY OFF, Mina darts through traffic as the camera tries to keep up with her, but in her haste to flee the set, she keeps the mike on and we hear her footsteps and conversations she has with people as she tries to navigate her way home—she really does get lost, (c) we have scary scenes when we can't see Mina, but hear cars screeching to a halt: maybe she has she been hit (d) we hear some shady men talking to her, and we wonder is this a child threatened with abduction (e) on the bus and in taxi rides that Mina takes, we hear the true undercurrents of Iranian society regarding the tension between modern women and traditional men, (f) we learn of how compassionate some people can be towards keeping the world's most precious asset, our children, safe. I will not spoil it, but the natural ending to this tale is great. This is one of the best films you can all year. So AfroPixFlix says see it!

Ayneh (The Mirror) is an unusual, interesting, and compelling work. The young star, Mina, is type-cast as a forceful and self-reliant young girl. The city of Teheran, as portrayed, has an almost anarchic quality to its vehicle and pedestrian traffic rules. The constant threat of accident adds a real edge to this cinema verité film. (In fact, the only problem I had with this movie was the ethical concern of allowing any actor, especially a young girl, anywhere near all this traffic.)

The Mirror is an excellent choice if you are looking for a noisy, exciting portrayal of an individual caught up in a realistic urban setting. Not a soothing film, but in my opinion, a great one.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi recently got arrested, charged with propaganda. He is sentenced to six years in jail and is banned from making movies for twenty years. This makes his 1997 movie "The Mirror" ("Ayneh" in Farsi) all the more interesting. The movie depicts a girl wandering Tehran's chaotic streets looking for her mother. Suddenly, she decides that she doesn't want to play the part anymore! First time that I've ever seen that happen in a movie.

The only other Panahi movie that I've seen is "Offside", about women getting kept from attending a soccer game, officially because the men's legs are showing. Judging by that, and by the conversations that the girl hears on the bus in "The Mirror", Panahi is not a director whose films really please Iran's authorities. There should be no doubt as to why he now languishes in jail. And above all, I truly recommend this movie.

This is a film about a girl going home. Apparently her mother failed to pick our little heroine up, and the feisty second grader sets out to find her way through the asphalt jungle all by herself. Well, there's more to it of course. It's the asphalt jungle of Tehran and the film was directed by Jafar Panahi, one of the innovative film makers of the Iranian New Wave. Not that his latest works are allowed to be shown in his home country, mind you. Sentenced to a six-year jail term in 2010 and banned from directing he nevertheless defiantly made an iPhone production called "This Is Not a Film" about his situation and managed to smuggle it out of Iran and tell the world.

The Iranian situation as such is already portrayed firsthand in Panahi's early 1997 film. A representative of the next generation, a child, in the center, we witness its abandonment by the adults. We eavesdrop on them complaining, but not really listening, observe the gender segregation on public transport (albeit through an innocent perspective in between as the missing link), but in a sea of scarves, uniform looks and the all encompassing everyday turmoil one can barely get a glimpse of something one could call "individuality"... In the words of Panahi: Everyone is wearing a mask, plays a role. Thanks to the stark realism present in Iranian movies we become part of the life and the hustle and bustle therein, get sucked in by following the odyssey through a child's eye. And we'll reach a point in the film where a clever twist cranks it all even up a notch. Thus a very real situation turns even more real and it results in a powerful reflection with a double meaning, within the film and outside of it. As in his preceding picture "The White Balloon", also centering on a cast of children, the tone in Panahi's "The Mirror" is light, and the film is entertaining throughout, yet layered and thought-provoking. There's someone who stands up to find a way, lost, but determined, wandering around in need for directions. But there's a fundamental difference between directions and direction, as the viewer might notice. No coincidence either that this someone we're talking about is a girl, the focus of some of Panahi's other works. Or let's say it that way: This is not a film... about a girl going home.

This is a pure concept: Director has chosen to play with two resources: camera and sound. No music, no SFX.

The story itself is quite surprising.

Sometimes, the lower the budget, the greater the creativity. The border between documentary and film is blurred, so the sense of "reality" is quite present and remains till the end.

The director also plays with the audience: there is a certain point when the viewer feels to be misplaced.

As Rene Magritte's painting "la Vengeance", in which the artist does not accept the inherent limitations of his art, he dares to paint outside the easel, that way Jafar Panahi goes beyond the usual simple structure of the movies.

Just for "independent advanced" movie goers.

9/10

Strong start, with a little girl trying to make her way home from school in the busy streets of Tehran and getting lost, something which builds empathy instantly. It fades in the second half though, after the actor playing the little girl breaks the fourth wall and walks off the project, then tries to find her own way home, mirroring the character's predicament.

The film gets a few observations in about the patriarchal society in the form of bus regulations that require women to enter the rear door, and a taxi driver who expounds on the proper domestic role for women in marriage, at least as he sees it. Mostly, however, it's just the girl trying to describe where she needs to go to strangers, who are kind enough to try to get her moving in the right direction, but never really follow through completely, often passing her off to another set of adults like a baton. There is probably something to be said for the resilience of the child and the culture where she is generally safe, or at least feels that way anyway (no one is alarmed for her being alone, a striking contrast to how it is in America).

Unfortunately, however, this film just gets tedious as it plays out, with no real escalation in the story, and the transition from character to "real life" coming across as a gimmick, since it added absolutely nothing. A great concept and an endearing little girl, but this is one that fizzled.

I would love to know more about the making of this film. Is this film exactly as the director, Jafar Panahi, planned or did he simply adapt the film to circumstances? I'll try to explain: The film begins with a primary school letting out for the day. All the children either take their bus or have their parents come for them. That is, everyone but tiny Mina (who appears to be about 6 or 7). When her mother doesn't show, an irresponsible teacher sends her off with a well-meaning man--but soon she is separated from him and the child fends for herself--trying to zig-zag her way through the city to her home. However, Teheran is a city of 8,000,000--and the traffic is crazy busy--and so the child's task seems impossible--especially since she doesn't exactly know how to get home.

About 40% of the way through the film, the child suddenly announces that she is finished with the movie and is leaving. And, you see the camera crew and director! They beg the child to continue but she will not. However, they now decide to continue filming her--but from a distance. And, the reality and the film are about the same here, as the child does continue walking and looking for her home--just like her character.

The idea of this film is quite good and the Iranians have shown that you can make great films with child actors and not much in the way of plot (such as Majid Majidi's "Children of Heaven"). However, although the idea of someone stepping out of the film is intriguing, the problem is that it happens way too early in the movie. Because of this, the pictures just goes on and on and on and it is simply way overlong. Had the film been 45 minutes or even an hour, it would have worked much better. But, at an hour and 42 minutes, it becomes quite dull and drags. Worth seeing for the insane film buff (like me)--otherwise you could do better. The only reason the film earns a 5 is the idea is sound and the little girl is pretty cute.

A child (Mina Mohammad Khani) waits in vain for her mother to pick her up after school. Whether she tries to resolve the dilemma herself or asks for help from the adult world, this serious little girl confronts dead-ends. At first She asks help from a motorcycle driver and the guy gives her a lift to the bus-stop then she takes the wrong bus so on and on.She challenges the adult world. "If you can show me the way I can go by myself" is a repeated line in the movie but the adult world does regard her either weak or it doesn't care about her.The close camera shot right on the little girl is very good really and the performance of this little girl deserves a standing ovation. Great job! The only thing is that I felt that the movie lacks a little bit action through the turmoil of urban life. The director focuses on littler girl more than necessary I guess. We hear some external voices (like the people on the bus) but the camera is always on the girl so this feels a little bit passive. Other than that it's really great!

Monsieur Panahi cannot resist a bit of metafiction. In this case the metafiction becomes the subject of the second part of the movie, as his lead child actress finds herself in the exact same predicament as the girl she was playing, running through the streets of Tehran, talking to all sorts of people, trying to get home. Only it starts to feel a little too gimmicky and I lost interest. Plus the fact that they were watching her from a distance, but still I couldn't help but feel they were endangering her.

Anyway, Tehran traffic is hellish and I'd be scared as an adult, let alone a child. But this kid just cannot sit still to save her life. It's true we would not have a movie otherwise, but basically stay in the playground and wait for your mother to come pick you up.

This gimmick was so good that it has never been done again since. It's like going on after a fumble, you pick it up and end the play but it will not be the best, it will not be beautiful but this fumble will get you to score a point. It's an interesting exercise, one that will spark debates because you either go with it or no. I get either side of the fence.

It's not cinema, but it is a meta-commentary on fact and fiction. Don't we always say that "life beats film" - then why is this not the best film ever? You still have to separate the two - or you make a documentary. This feels like due to financial constraints you continue with a mistake, and double down...

For someone like me, who just wants a good story - this movie being one made for film connoiseurs who want to explore the philosophy and meaning of cinema - is not good for me.

It was good half-way through until the fourth wall is broken by the child actor, and from thereon, the viewer is led to view the movie with the fourth wall broken, but the way story continues in a very let's say 'organic' fashion maintains the myth that the fourth wall is not broken after all.

But if one were to keep the fourth wall lens, then it makes the viewer voyeuristic who chooses to stay with the child actor even after she wants to escape being filmed - even as the film crew chases down the actor from the set to her home.

It's surely a clever piece of work and one made for the history books - but it fails as an entertainment piece for me. I generally do not take well to content that is made for the creator's own personal enjoyment. There has to be something in it for the viewer too.

I found the cleverness interesting, but the execution a bit amateurish. The child actor would walk consciously while looking at the camera - betraying the fact that the fourth wall breakdown was scripted and executed not much to perfection. Alas, I am able to say this only because I got to see Abbas Kiarostami's films before I started with Panahi's library. Abbas does it so so well that Panahi's efforts in this movie pales as an amateurish metoo copy.