Although features such as “Close-Up” (1990) received high praise from international critics, making it possible for director Abbas Kiarostami to seek financial backing for his projects in other countries, producing new features in his home country Iran proved to be increasingly difficult. Iranian authorities accused the director of becoming Westernized because of the use of Western music, especially classic, and also showing a rather clichéd image of Iran. However, Kiarostami still returned to the village of Koker, the setting of “Where is the Friend’s House”, to tell yet another story, inspired by one incident during the filming of one scene in “And Life Goes On”. The two actors, a boy and a girl, both local, had to do a scene together, but something was off and there was a certain tension between the two of them, which Kiarostami investigated further, uncovering a story of lost love and disappointment closely linked...
- 8/3/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Stars: Babek Ahmed Poor, Farhad Kheradmand, Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Zarifeh Shiva, Buba Bayour, Khodabakhsh Defaei | Written and Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
They may not have a breakneck pace, and they may seem unbearably light on explicit incident, but Abbas Kiarostami’s Koker Trilogy did the shared universe thing two decades before Marvel perfected the formula. Each film is a deeply humanistic fable in its own right and each is woven into the fabric of the others. Together they show just how powerfully mind-bending the use of sequels can be.
The first part, Where Is The Friend’s House?, starts simply. One day at school, Ahmed (Babek Ahmed Poor) witnesses his friend Mohammad Reda (Ahmed Ahmed Poor) being told off by their teacher for forgetting his notebook. Reda is on his last warning – one more strike and he’s expelled. When Ahmed gets home, he realises he’s accidentally picked up Reda’s notebook.
They may not have a breakneck pace, and they may seem unbearably light on explicit incident, but Abbas Kiarostami’s Koker Trilogy did the shared universe thing two decades before Marvel perfected the formula. Each film is a deeply humanistic fable in its own right and each is woven into the fabric of the others. Together they show just how powerfully mind-bending the use of sequels can be.
The first part, Where Is The Friend’s House?, starts simply. One day at school, Ahmed (Babek Ahmed Poor) witnesses his friend Mohammad Reda (Ahmed Ahmed Poor) being told off by their teacher for forgetting his notebook. Reda is on his last warning – one more strike and he’s expelled. When Ahmed gets home, he realises he’s accidentally picked up Reda’s notebook.
- 9/23/2019
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
At the heart of Certified Copy is evidently a ‘philosophical’ idea – ill thought out – about the distinction between copy and original being nebulous. Miller and the woman begin by enacting the role of husband and wife – just as a copy would begin by ‘enacting’ an original – but soon get so taken up by their roles – as a copy would get immersed in its subject – that they ‘become’ husband and wife.
Abbas Kiarostami is the best known of Iranian filmmakers and it will not be out of place to assert that he put Iranian cinema on the world map. Yet, a careful viewing of his films raises questions about the validity of his methods. To put is plainly, Kiarostami’s best films erase the distinction between documentary and fiction apparently by having his actors (or non-actors) playing themselves in partly fictional situations.
To illustrate with perhaps his best film Through the Olive Trees...
Abbas Kiarostami is the best known of Iranian filmmakers and it will not be out of place to assert that he put Iranian cinema on the world map. Yet, a careful viewing of his films raises questions about the validity of his methods. To put is plainly, Kiarostami’s best films erase the distinction between documentary and fiction apparently by having his actors (or non-actors) playing themselves in partly fictional situations.
To illustrate with perhaps his best film Through the Olive Trees...
- 9/14/2011
- by MK Raghvendra
- DearCinema.com
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