The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 105

Co0 Angeles Stated 6 Part VlFriday, March 27, 1987 AN EXHILARATING 'RUNNER' FROM IRAN julAj REALLY UNUSUAL. Grimm Brothers-style, mixing wonder with rough edges, undertones of pain beneath the fantasy." LOS ANGELES TIMES, Michael Wilmington Love)," Satchmo's "What a Wonderful World" and Nat King Cole's "Around the World in 80 Days" theme song. One suspects that Madjid Niroumand is not a professional actor, yet his seemingly spontaneous portrayal ranks among the finest ever given by a child. As encouraging a film as "The Runner" (Times-rateds Mature) is, it should not be taken as a sign that the Iranian cinema as a whole is as critical and vigorous as it was toward the end of the Shah's regime. On the contrary, the 41-year-old Naderi, who made his first feature in 1971, has emigrated to the United States and will attend the opening-night performance years, but he's still capable of breaking into an occasional radiant smile of pure joy.

"The Runner" is terrifically tough-minded, but also exhilarating. "The Runner's" waterside setting allows Naderi full rein for his strong sense of the visual. Another surprising aspect of this beautiful, provocative film is that it suggests the persistence of the once-strong, now-officially-hated American culture in the daily life of Iran. Pepsi is still inscribed on the sides of a soda-pop street vendor's battered old cooler. A young man wears a T-shirt advertising Lee pants, and Naderi makes fine, ironic use of American pop songs on his sound track e.g., "What the World Needs Now (Is Love, Sweet the censors in Iran, for it ostensibly offers hope, extolling the implacable determination of its appealing little hero Amiro (Madjid Nirou-mand) to survive and even better himself, learning to read and write.

Yet its stunningly ambiguous finish, involving Amiro and his pals in a foot race, is set against a blazing oil field that invites symbolic criticism of the Khomeini regime. Dark-eyed, resilient Amiro, who looks to be about 11, joins the army of homeless youths flocking to the large industrialized port of Abadan. Finding shelter in a derelict boat, he lives hand to mouth selling By KEVIN THOMAS, Times Staff Writer Amir Naderi's "The Runner" (at the Fox International) would be a landmark film simply because it is the first post-revolutionary Iranian picture to be released in the United States. Happily, it is also a work of astonishing power and simplicity, reminiscent of the finest Italian neo-realist films. It dares to suggest that for the dispossessed, life in Iran is as hard as it was under the Shah.

Yet it is possible to see why the film got by bottles tossed overboard from oil tankers, shining shoes, even peddling cold water to the dock workers. That foot race evolves naturally out of Amiro's running for his very life or, rather, livelihood. When a man rides off on his bike without paying for his glass of water, Amiro runs after him, never flagging until he catches up with the man. The boy is prepared to run the gauntlet for anything that is rightly his including his self-respect. Amiro's running also expresses his Icarus-like desire for flight; every plane flying overhead thrills him.

His eyes may look old beyond his 66 GENTLE, LIKABLE, made with few pretensions. something simple and decent about 'Ratboy'." LOS ANGELES TIMES, Michael Wilmington "ONE OF THE BEST "DESTINED TO BE ONE COMEDIES OF THE YEAR." OF 1987's FUNNIEST." TODAY SHOW, Gene Sbalit "'TIN MEN' STRIKES GOLD." THE BOSTON HERALD, James Verniere SNEAK PREVIEWS. Michael Medved "ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIC." SNEAK PREVIEWSINN. Jeffrey Lyons "MADE OF GOLD." -WCBS-TV, Dennis Cunningham T1 -r- "A 10. THE PERFECT MOVIE COMEDY." -KABC-TV, Gary Franklin "ITS MORAL IS NATURAL AND AFFECTING; it resonates with that old storybook chime: 'Once upon a time.

LOS ANGELES TIMES, Michael Wilmington A COMEDY CLASSIC.77 OF PURE GOLD." PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, Desmond Ryan "A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT." PEOPLE MAGAZINE, Ralph Novak MM CHICAGO TRIBUNE, Johanna Steinmetz "A COMEDY YOU SIMPLY MUST SEE." USA TONIGHT, Jeffrey Lyons vim mm mm? any uvnaoi rr'fnAI I FAIRY TALE WITH A CUTTING EDGE. The story is a fable about beauty and ugliness, success, love and exploitation." LOS ANGELES TIMES, Michael Wilmington "r-y 4m eMc.1 ii i "i'l Lr r--, "ekSJM 4 AA, y. fliH.piNltS AiiiFimi inopdandmW fyliNlll assodateprodncers Mill mMIHN vrittenpiDN III! Ml TECHNICOLOR" WARNER BROS. A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY 1987 Wmer Bra. Inc.

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