Abbas Kiarostami - Truthful & Elegant

Where is the Friend's Home (1987)

Abbas Kiarostami is an Iranian film director who has a unique thoughtful approach to all of his films. He shows the real pace of the life without any melodrama or over sentiments. His films are simple, truthful and elegant. Always straight forward in dealing with the stories thus making it simple and more beautiful through careful character studies.
"Where is the Friends Home"  is a story of a little boy who tries to find his friends home to return his notebook which he took by mistake, or else his friend may get punished by the school master for not doing the homework. The little boy tries to do the right thing in his life, but get stuck in the middle without getting any help from the grownups. The performances are natural and simple. Abbas Kiarostami always get successful movies by way of doing it simple. This is one of the best movies ever made from Iran and it is touching and charming.

Taste of Cherry (1997)

Dusty Iranian landscape, outskirts of Tehran, another beautifully simple movie from Abbas Kiarostami. A middle-aged man driving in his car looking for someone to do a job. He is ready to pay, but everybody refuses except one agrees to travel with him. The movie unfolds slowly and one can enjoy the treasures it brings in each moment. The cinematography is excellent. An elegant film from Iran, with different taste, different cultural experience. In the end it leaves you with the thoughts of value of life for the little things like "taste of cherry". This movie is a pleasant surprise, and is worth watching.

The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)

Yet another simple and honest movie about life and death from Abbas Kiarostmai, for which he won the Cannes Palme d'Or. A group of men arrives in a village, to observe the strange ceremony that occurs when an old woman dies. The movie is poetic, strange and different in culture. Cinematography is also fabulous. Every moment in this film is close to reality. Kiarostami's artistic styles and approach to the stories makes them different. There are many beautiful locations in Iran filmed by Kiarostami which contributes to the beauty of this film. His truthfulness towards film-making should be very much appreciated.

"In this type of cinema, whether working with actors or non-actors, as much as you do direct them, if you allow yourself to be directed by them, then the end result will be much more pleasing. The real and individual strengths of the actors is allowed to be expressed and is something that does affect the audience very deeply."-Abbas Kiarostami-