Ta'm e guilass
Directed by:
Abbas KiarostamiScreenplay:
Abbas KiarostamiCinematography:
Homayun PayvarVOD (2)
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The first Iranian film to win the Palme d’Or, this austere, emotionally complex drama by the great Abbas Kiarostami follows the middle-aged Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi) as he drives around the hilly outskirts of Tehran looking for someone who will agree to dispose of his body after he commits suicide, a taboo under Islam. Extended conversations with three passengers (a soldier, a seminarian, and a taxidermist) elicit different views of mortality and individual choice. Operating at once as a closely observed, realistic story and a fable populated by archetypal figures, Taste of Cherry challenges the viewer to consider what often goes unexamined in everyday life. (Criterion)
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The arid, dusty plains of Iran without a drop of water. Minimal camera movement. No music. A world without emotion, without colour. A well-off middle-aged man intent on suicide, looking for someone in this environment who would be willing to bury him the following night for a hefty financial reward. It doesn't matter why he wants to die – and we won’t even find out. Abbas Kiarostami doesn’t like to manipulate viewers’ feelings, preferring instead to just let them observe and compose their thoughts. What makes this film so interesting that I couldn’t take my eyes off it? If I managed to find that out, the magic it possesses would fall away. In any case, this is the first film to make me feel thirsty when it was over.
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Even if reading the book "1001 Films You Must See Before You Die" didn't give me anything else, it definitely gave me an idea that good movies are not only the American ones, but mainly that there are countries that have quality creators, countries that have incredibly innovative movies. "Taste of Cherry" is precisely one of such movies.
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