Kiarostami

(as an aside, this was def the first film to persuade me aesthetically about digital, & RED cameras, &c. v beautiful.)

yes i think what was bugging me was that there wasn't really any sense of exactly ANY reason why these two people loved or even liked each other. but then maybe that's no so much a flaw as the point? no "original" relationship etc?

hey ryan, i was just reading the other thread, The films of Abbas Kiarostami., i wondered if you still felt the same about his earlier works. a decade later. there is something about the poetry i know exists in his films that is on a different plain to what is visible. even literally, the Farrokhzad poetry of the wind will carry us, which i feel slightly separated from by language and subtitles &c&c&c. i love the reach of his films. what amateurist said in the other thread:

There are a few scenes in And Life Goes On... in particular which are little bursts of inventiveness anchored to emotions.

I do feel the same, if only because I haven't watched any of those films since then (despite being slightly embarrassed by some of what I wrote on that thread). I do plan to watch Certified Copy again but I'm most interested in seeing The Wind Will Carry Us and Taste of Cherry again. I have fond memories of those two, despite being a little bored or put off by them.

The Wind Will Carry Us (Canada: English title) (USA) 0
... aka Through the Olive Trees 0
... aka And Life Goes on... 0
... aka Life, and Nothing More... 0
... aka Close Up 0

This is still, just, I can't.

haha, otm

i do like thinking about them. i really wanna read the jon rosenbaum/mehrnaz saeed-vafa book about him; there's a great dialogue here on the international/rural context for the films. i don't really rewatch a lot but the the wind will carry us would improve if i caught it again, i think. how the films perambulate is almost diverting from their under-tones.

not seen a one :(

I saw his second feature, The Report, last night, which has one of the most harrowing marital fights I've ever seen in a film. Aaron Cutler on it as a predecessor to CC:

http://www.movingimagesource.us/articles/copying-the-copy-20110310

Insight into his writing: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/movies/abbas-kiarostamis-challenges-with-like-someone-in-love.html?ref=movies

i know available on youtube isn't always a tantalising prospect, but: the report is available on youtube, fwiw; I'd always thought it was a short & was surprised to see that a few long full length things on there existed.

i can't quite bring myself to post in the film snob thread about the lincoln center season. i wish i was there. even the polling results here make me sad. i think i like life and nothing more the most, for how self contained & directional it is. it feels like his most efficient and concise, of that era, it's such a satisfying watch.

i feel like kiarostami falling asleep watching his own films is a transcendental stage

thx! The Wedding Suit is on YT also, which I am missing at the retro today.

The Report was shown in a digital copy of an old print; negative is long gone apparently.

i think the youtubes are their own peculiar blend of digitised vhs bleariness. thinkin baout hito steyerl. enjoy any others you catch - was actually most fascinated by the prospect of 10 on 10 when i was reading the precis, it sounded really interesting.

wow, seems like most of his major ones are on there.

The Report is available as an extra on the Criterion edition of Certified Copy.

and The Traveler w/ Close Up.

'like someone in love' is a bit bizarre, theres really such a light touch to the plot/characterization that im legitimately unsure what to take from it

I saw it Sunday and am still processing. Liked the cast, esp the old man. 60% of it in cars, OK. Overriding theme seemed to be losing family and the cost/ugliness of trying to connect to a new family/individual.

it feels v open to varying interpretations. a lot of critics seemed to get a deep loneliness/ennui vibe which idk

watching it this afternoon

I liked it!!

so no else saw it??

Out of country but desperate to see it. Maybe it will still be on in 3 weeks! Maybe?

I loved it.

i wanted some "Marienbad-isms."

this was very good! not as good as Certified Copy imo but still pretty great.

Just finished Certified Copy. Not sure I can recommend it for anyone who's been in a long relationship; I feel like I've just been dissected, found to be malignant, and (rightly) discarded with all the other medical waste. What an amazing film.

I was down to see Close-Up a week ago. Friday night, so, as per usual, I lasted about 20 minutes before I started drifting. I rented it a few days later, also Certified Copy.

I admired the skill and the performances (especially Binoche) in both, and, as you can guess from such wording, I say that in the most dispassionate way. (I was also relieved to read that the thing I was confused about in Close-Up--"Um, were they married?"--was supposed to confuse me.) I'm surprised that Close-Up is so high in greatest-ever lists, or that it's there at all. I can think of a few huckster/ruse films--I know admirers would hate that description, but that's essentially what it is--that treated the subject with a little more verve.

Confused about in Certified Copy, I meant.

Certified Copy is overrated. Close-Up is one of the best movies ever. I don't care if you want to judge it's quality on how much verve it treats it's huckster with, but that final sequence with them on the motorcycle, and that final freeze-frame, that is some of the most amazing imagery of all time.

of all time

but yeah that's a sensible redress
unbearable contrarianism here but, for real, close up is like my fifth-fav kiarostami, & i think there's a slight bout-de-souffle dimension to its prominence, representing a whole era or school of thought in lieu of alternate films that have more specific rewards. but it's great, too, is so funny, has a lot of heart, &c, so i don't think it needs denuding.

The freeze-frame was nice. Overall, I didn't find it all that visually interesting. Apparently there was a music video that paid tribute to the motorcycle ride.

a lot of the visual satisfaction of kiarostami's how tight it is, i think; something always incredibly judicious & economical, this sorta treasures of sierra madre academy ratio choppiness, really defined sense of space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoV6xfgCkcM

Close-Up is as mentioned my favorite, but I was still surprised to see that it was the only Kiarostami on the Sight and Sound top 250. I thought pretty much everything else he made in the nineties was better regarded. He was on top for a loooong time.

All those courthouse scenes aren't that visually arresting, but I'm still on board. It's the mood, the themes, and that perfect final sequence that does it for me. If we talked only visuals, something like Through the Olive Trees or The Wind Will Carry Us are probably more consistently masterful. They don't quite hit me the same way, though.

Mystified that Taste of Cherry fell off so sharply as I thought it was the consensus favorite for a little while there. But maybe I just thought that way because I saw that one first, and it knocked me flat.

i feel like the aesthetics of the courthouse scene - the variation in lenses, cameras & the vantage point of kiarostami aside them - are Doing A Lot in close-up. the attention of the onlookers is so rapturous, too. i always think of the sister, her glasses.

All the courthouse scenes are real, iirc.

ha, wow. right.

A fan's guide to Kiarostami by econ-blogger Tyler Cowen:

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/04/what-is-the-best-introduction-to-abbas-kiarostami-films.html

close up is one of my all-time favorite movies, and imo pretty incredible as a gesture of forgiveness from one human being to another.

i think that a new poll is in order, as long as we can get more than 4 people voting for these films.

Dead :https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2016/jul/04/abbas-kiarostami-master-of-cinematic-poetry-peter-bradshaw

fuck!

what a shitty fucken year eh

devastating

Ach. RIP

Fuck man, RIP.

The Academy invited him just days ago iirc. Should've done that decades earlier. Tragic loss.

kiarostami is the academy

Well that's unfortunate if true. =

― Eggs Benedick (Eric H.), Tuesday, June 14, 2022 11:21 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

this is disgusting, as are the last ten posts in this thread.

I think the news is upsetting to say the least, and it does call into question Kiarostami's entire body of work -- not for his inexcusable personal behavior and abuse, but as I saw someone say on Twitter (naturally), if he plagiarized an entire movie in the early 2000s, then what else did he steal throughout his career? These are severe accusations, and I hope they are clarified, because although this is the first I'm hearing of it, she sounds credible and it doesn't strike me as implausible at all -- not because of anything in Kiarostami per se, but it sounds like plenty of abusive men. Just very sad.

holy shit

The authorities (Letterboxd) have weighed in and are now crediting the movie to Akbari and acknowledging the gravity of the issue by giving it a new, jokey title.
https://letterboxd.com/film/uncertified-copy/

Really saddened by this. I hope that Akbari can be given reparations if this is confirmed.

acknowledging the gravity of the issue by giving it a new, jokey title

Are they tho?