“Life and Nothing More…” (1992)
Meta is as meta does. In 1990, a devastating earthquake ravaged Northern Iran where the director’s “Where Is the Friend’s Home?” took place. Worried over the well-being of his two young leads, Kiarostami took to the road to make sure they were alive and well. The film follows this premise (somewhat of an alternate take on ‘Friend’s,’ asking around for the boys), with an actor cast in the Abbas role and a young boy journeying with him. It’s another chance to partake in Iran’s culture, but it also examines life, determination after tragedy, and human compassion. Though it has extra layers, the picture doesn’t suffer from over-saturation and remains just as moving, if not more, as the first film in the “Koker Trilogy.” [A]
“Through the Olive Trees” (1994)
Studios and creative teams struggle to build off a successful feature, but Kiarostami effortlessly squeezes two beautiful and naturalistic tales out of his 1987 treasure “Where Is the Friends Home?” In this closing part of the trilogy, a man from “Life and Nothing More…” attempts to woo his love interest, who (along with her family) is turned off by his lack of income and prospects. Love doesn’t just give up, though, and the male seeks advice from the Abbas character while doing a scene involving his main squeeze. Bits from ‘Life’ are given a new layer and extended beyond their original cuts to detail the budding relationship between the prospective couple, which at times feel both voyeuristic and tender. These multiple and extensive observations into one situation constantly unveil new and varying layers to a situation already thought to be well-established, which is something that is often ignored by most directors either due to naivety or inexperience. Could the director have continued making movies with roots leading back to his sophomore feature? Probably, because even though it may seem like he exhausted the concept in theory, the three films remain as fresh as they ever were, and there’s still plenty of culture and topics left to explore. Human beings, human relationships, and life in general are very complicated and complex topics, so why is Abbas one of the only filmmakers to acknowledge this? Beats us, but so long as he’s taking that unpretentious approach, we’re happy to have him. [A-]
“Taste of Cherry” (1997)
Having collaborated with former assistant Jafar Panahi on the screenplays for the excellent “The Journey” and “The White Balloon,” Kiarostami came back in force with another semi-road movie: “Taste of Cherry.” The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, the filmmaker having only just been allowed to leave the country to attend the festival at the last minute, and it launched the director to international fame. Following Badii (a superb Homayoun Ershadi, who in reality is an architect), a middle-aged man searching the countryside outside Tehran for someone to throw earth in his grave after he commits suicide, it’s one of Kiarostami’s most divisive films — patient and languid to a fault, many have dismissed the film as dull and self-indulgent. We’d respectfully disagree, however — Kiarostami’s humanism is front-and-center, and the film’s more oblique qualities actually give it a more wide-reaching profundity, perfectly matched by the director’s beautifully plain shooting style. The film’s coda, which cuts suddenly to behind-the-scenes footage of Kiarostami and his crew making the film, accompanied by Louis Armstrong’s “St. James Infirmary,” is equal parts baffling and brilliant. Few directors have tackled the simple banalities of death and its relationship with life with such skill. [A-]