WATCH NOW
A suitable title for Amir Naderi, the filmmaker, can be A Cinema of Ecstatic Vision. Naderi is a true original, as no other director on this side of Martin Scorsese seems as deeply enamored with movies or captivated by their kinetic potential. He was born in Iran and was a vital part of what has been referred to as the explosion of talent that led to the Iranian New Wave (1969-1979). He relocated to the U. S. in the 1980s and thereafter directed films in America, Italy, and Japan, but before leaving his homeland, he created The Runner, which is regarded as post-Revolutionary Iran’s first masterpiece and one of the most awe-inspiring films in the history of cinema.
The movie is ideal for viewers of New York’s Film Forum, where it will premiere this Friday. However, I want to make a personal appeal to all film students in the greater New York region, whether they specialize in production or cinema studies, to watch The Runner. Claiming that the 1984 movie is not at all dated is almost an understatement. I can’t think of any movie made in 2022 that produces so much happiness through the simple act of making a movie and serves as a world-transforming inspiration for younger people.
With a mix of wonder and desperation, a boy shouts while looking at tankers from the distant shimmering Persian Gulf. This is 11-year-old Amiro (played by the amazing Madjid Niroumand), an orphaned ragamuffin who is forced to live on the streets of coastal Abadan. (Due to the Iran-Iraq war, Naderi was forced to change filming locations for the movie.)
The memories are like reminiscences arriving from a distant dream. The tale heavily relies on fragmented reality and the montage fully captures the boy’s carefree existence. Observing the comings and goings of foreign nationals, the fashions, and music through the busy port city. The film tantalizingly captures pre-revolutionary Iran. He tries to learn the alphabet so he can read the aviation magazines that have created so much fascination.
Amiro beautifully portrays one of life’s biggest inner contradictions, capturing a problematic aspect of childhood. Amiro’s life is equally free and trapped. Since no one is telling him what to do, he can run wildly across the beautiful open sea, plains, or the city. But doesn’t quite utilize this freedom to its maximum potential, knowing this place yields no future for him and absolute poverty is where he is being brewed. His focus often shifts to the possibilities of escape through trains, ships, or the most majestic option, airplanes.
The amazing yet effortlessly tender touch of Firooz Malekzadeh’s captivating color Pelle cinematography beautifully captures Amiro’s surroundings. Although Naderi’s masterpiece is far more significant to what he approaches, rather than even worrying about what he is showcasing. According to Naderi, nothing about Amiro’s life is nearly as appealing as how he presents it. Amiro’s location is packed with textures full of light and color, blended edges of a painting, which form detailed images of stunning hyperrealism. Moreover, Naderi’s main focus is on the frame. Reminiscent of the styles of Martin Scorsese, Naderi emphasizes motion capture, especially horizontal panning and tracking shots from within a speeding train capturing boys who are ridiculously chasing the train as it speeds away. It is pretty clear that the restless Amiro is the titular Runner, but the film itself also exemplifies the term, as both encompass a fast moving headlong gait. One step takes the viewers forward to the result of the breathless pacing. The editing of the masterpiece was done by Bahram Beyzai, one of the greatest Iranian filmmakers.
It may not look like he succeeded in devising this captivating visual language on his own. It’s known that Naderi was one of the most passionate cinephiles among the major directors from Pre-Revolutionary Era. In Iran, I heard this story that speaks about how he drove a VW bug all the way from Tehran to London just to be one of the first people to watch Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey. Starting from the 1980s, when the Iranian movies started getting screened in international film festivals, most critics were able to recognize the two main movements present in post-World War II cinema, which are Italian neorealism and French New Wave. The Runner shows evidence of the impact of both. It was like De Sica’s Shoeshine, it was filmed in authentic surroundings and employs nonprofessional children in a story about people on the margin of society.
During the Iranian New Wave period, Naderi directed big movies with movie stars, but he also began a new autobiographical shift in his films, starting with one called Harmonica, which features a character named Amiro.
(His teenage years were adapted into a movie, Experience, which he wrote and was directed by Abbas Kiarostami) After the defeat of Iranian cinema during the 1979 revolution, there was skepticism as to whether it would be revived in the Islamic Republic. In May 1981, Naderi, Kiarostami, Beyzai and other New Wave veterans published an open letter saying that the regime needs to rebuild the film industry. Within two years, those suggestions were put to use and Iran initiated filming again.
While all three films focus on children who are living in poverty, there is a certain energy and exuberance that radiates from the characters. It seems as though the directors are not just happy to be able to create films, but are also self-aware that they are filming a new genre of cinema. These innovative approaches all contain traces of Iran’s older theatrical grandeur, most notably in poetry. Whenever I watch The Runner, I can’t help but think of Rumi, whose poetry is often evocative. For me, Naderi’s work shares a similar sense of energy and reverence for the endless possibilities that art can encompass. It is cinema filled with Dayan and wonder.
To watch more movies like The Runners (2020), visit 123Movies
Also watch for more movies like:
