Children of Heaven

(Miramax)

Majid Majidi's movie starts off generic, with eight-year-old Ali (Amir Farrokh Hashemian) sharing his battered sneakers with his younger sister Zahra (Bahare Sediqi) after he loses her slippers. Eventually Majidi opens his film up by having Ali enter a road race with hopes of winning a pair of running shoes. Heaven ends on a note of gentle but resolute irony: aspiration meets with frustration even when it succeeds, and true peace and joy, like the goldfish in the pool into which Ali sinks his blistered feet, lie under the shifting surface of our daily cares.