Two more films by Abbas Kiarostami

Time moves slowly through these two films.  Time is to be savored in them.  There is little dialogue but plenty of dramatic and exotic visual storytelling.

In "Life…," a man and his son (who are actors playing the parts) travel by car to an area near Kokur which has been devastated by the 1990 earthquake.  Although partially fictionalized, we see the destruction first hand and witness the resilience of the "lucky" people who are literally pulling their lives and few remaining possessions out of the rubble.  "If people could die and then come back to life, I think that they would live better." A wise and entertaining child makes this a candid and heartwarming exploration.

In "The Wind..." a man from Tehran and his film crew buddies arrive in a remove village. They are in a hurry for the 100-year old woman to die in order to capture some special ceremony on film. Instead they are forced to slow down. Over a span of about 3 weeks, they witness many small moments of ordinary life in the village: birth, courtship, small arguments, and holes being dug. The lead character seems to not appreciate these moments, right through to the end of the film when the ultimate death finally arrives. Instead the viewer has to make peace with this pre-industrial society and its own sense of time.
-dp

From the Lincoln Film Society web site:

Life and Nothing More…Abbas Kiarostami | 1992 | 95 mins
In the second part of Kiarostami’s celebrated Koker trilogy, the director’s onscreen alter-ego goes searching for the stars of his previous film, Where is the Friend’s Home?, in the earthquake-devastated rubble of a Northern Iranian village. 

The Wind Will Carry UsAbbas Kiarostami | 1999 | 118 mins
A camera crew imposes upon the people of a remote village, resulting in an uncommon meditation on culture and human activity that is one of Kiarostami’s crowning masterpieces.

http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/a-close-up-of-abbas-kiarostami