What an innocent movie...I think, Iran makes the best children's films with thought provoking messages to the adult world. Just compare this kid with a Culkin in Home Alone and you will get your answer as to what true cinema really is..
I dunno, to me it seemed something like a private eye´s ultimate nightmare - being constantly run around in a vicious cycle of endless, banal, looping conversations where the one questioned doesn´t pay attention or wilfully ignores you, going on about his/her own unrelated topics, so you need to ask again and again and again... And then you have to interminally follow people around, only to be given a high hat once you actually pin them down. Or follow paths that don´t lead anywhere at all, except for some dim witted schmucks who´ll tell you long winded stories of some trivial events, or berate you and lecture about how children should be raised etc. To top it all off, the entire trek takes place in the drabdest, dullest, most rundown environment imaginable. Guess the private eye must be pretty happy to wake up eventually. I, on the other hand, was left with a bummer of a film that almost purposefully seems to evade paying the aesthetic side of things any mind at all and mostly consists of scenes of no particular dramatic interest - I may understand Mr Kiarostami´s point and all, but the way this point is made, is simply mightily unappealing (reportedly, the guy "emphasises the material over technique", but what it can lead to, is something like this - a sparse film that actually feels bloated instead of minimalist or to the point. And, a few isolated instances aside, quite decidedly uncinematic). Whatever the gravity of its "substance", the film´s a stammering, irritating bore and a major letdown after having seen that outstanding Cherry film of 1997 (admittedly quite similar number in approach, but somehow a whole lot more engaging). 4/10.