The Mirror

By RICHARD CORLISS

In 1995 Jafar Panahi's The White Balloon, a fable of a five-year-old trying to retrieve lost money, was an art-house hit. Panahi's superb new film sends another little girl (Mina Mohammad Khani) on a quest through the streets of Tehran: her mother has not come to pick her up after school, so she figures she'll get home on her own. Mina has star quality to burn. Turns out she also has a star's attitude. Halfway through, she shouts, "I'm not acting anymore!" and storms off. The Mirror, broken in two, now becomes a little chase movie, with the filmmakers in pursuit of their actress. Could this be a parable of the Iranian female's urge for independence? Ayatullahs, beware: in a decade these Minas will be grown and ready to take over.

--By R.C.