Soccer, children and snippets of Iranian culture. That could describe most Kiarostami films and this one is no different. Despite its rough quality it has many very well done moments especially the final sequence. There's one huge stumbling block for the film, though, and that is the lead actor. The kid is wholly unsympathetic from start to finish, scamming and misbehaving and giving a general sense of childishness and maliciousness rather than innocence. He also can't seem to close his mouth.

Contains a lot of elements you won't find in Kiarostami's later, more formalist films. Non-diegetic music, a more artful, composed approach to cinematography, and even a dream sequence. I liked it quite a bit. Although not very intellectually intriguing, it has an inviting narrative and compelling aesthetic values. It's kind of Satyajit Ray meets The 400 Blows meets neorealism. Qassem is a very unsympathetic protagonist, but the ending suggests that perhaps he might learn a lesson.

Kiarostami's feature debut that established him as an arrow-tip point director of Iranian new-wave movement. It is curious to see how closely he follows the steps laid out by Truffaut in The 400 Blows. Truly, the similar elements of the plot follows down to a different conclusion and it's far echoes of the French masterpiece, but you can see Kiarostami was a promising filmmaker right from the start.