A film which immerses us into the simple lives of Kurdish villagers living in a rocky town tucked between two bluffs in Northwestern Iran, as a man and his colleagues show up for reasons which aren't apparent for at least half its runtime. They say they're engineers but are awfully interested in the state of a very old woman nearing death. I won't say more so as not to spoil it, but also because there is little spoil - this isn't a very plot-driven film. The man is constantly driving up to the nearest hilltop to get reception for his phone, where he meets a man digging a ditch through a cemetery and acquires a human thigh bone, his own little memento mori, and he's regularly asking the women in the town for milk. There are some beautiful scenes of the rugged people and their surroundings, particularly towards the end, and the Persian poetry that's sprinkled in throughout the film is wonderful.
I can't say I truly loved it though, because I don't think the payoff was strong enough to overcome the very slow pace. That is undoubtedly a part of the point, slowing the viewer down to the rhythms of this village, but aside from marveling over being transported to a place I'll never see in person, I didn't find the dialogue particularly interesting, and the film was about a half hour longer than it should have been. There is a warmth and politeness in how these people talk to one another, and you can feel Kiarostami's undeniable humanism while watching it. We're here for a short time in this beautiful place, he tells us, so enjoy it to the fullest, because we have no guarantees about an afterlife. Great message, but a near miss for the film as a whole.
I can't say I truly loved it though, because I don't think the payoff was strong enough to overcome the very slow pace. That is undoubtedly a part of the point, slowing the viewer down to the rhythms of this village, but aside from marveling over being transported to a place I'll never see in person, I didn't find the dialogue particularly interesting, and the film was about a half hour longer than it should have been. There is a warmth and politeness in how these people talk to one another, and you can feel Kiarostami's undeniable humanism while watching it. We're here for a short time in this beautiful place, he tells us, so enjoy it to the fullest, because we have no guarantees about an afterlife. Great message, but a near miss for the film as a whole.