Customer Reviews

Taste of Cherry (The Criterion Collection)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

If you're going to make a film which largely consists of a man driving his Range Rover along dusty Iranian roads, soliciting various men for their assistance, you'd sure better make an engaging film. For the philosophically inclined, Abbas Kiarostami has done just that.

Though most of the film takes place on a few dirt roads over-looking Tehran, you could still see it as a road movie, albeit a sophisticated, intellectually engaging one.

Homayon Ershadi plays Badii, the driver of the Range Rover, as a strong yet depleted man, a man with resignation etched into his face in every frame. Mr. Badii is trying to find someone to help him with his suicide. The job is simple: come to cover his body if he's successful; rescue him if he is not. He's willing to give a tremendous amount of money for only a little work. Each man he picks up reacts to his offer in a different way--each of them conveys the belief that Badii's taking his own life would be wrong, but each of them gives different a reason for his inability to help. The only man willing to help Badii is another who once attempted suicide. Even he tries to convince him to remain, to remember the taste of cherry.

The end of the movie has been misunderstood by some reviewers; it's not a trick, the movie is not a sham. The ending simply provides a jolting coda, reminding us that no matter how barren life may seem, there is a reality uncolored by emotion and mental disease, and in that reality there are others leading joyful lives.

Not only has Kiarostami given us food for thought, he reveals gritty, dusty Tehran to be a city of haunting golden beauty. Another filmaker would have taken us to Eden to prove his point, but Kiarostami shows us there is beauty wherever you are, even in a land seemingly drained of color and steeped in binding tradition.

Is life worth anything? Perhaps this is one of the main questions going through the head of the main actor through out this film. The films first setting carries on for about 10-15 minutes leaving the viewer confused. It's not until half way through the movie that one realizes what the plot is about. Boring? no, but perhaps different and keeping you interested by making you more confused :)
The movie is slow paced but will have you sigh a big "wow" at the end and make you realize why they took it so slow. It will also leave you with questions that only you can asnwer for your self and not a buddy who was watching it with you. Lastely It will make you think twice about the gift of life and how we engorge ourselves in the big picture and overlook the small details.
So take a deep breath and be prepared to think of the unthinkable :)

A man drives throughout the slums of Tehran, trying to find a man that agrees to burry him, after his suicide. This is the starting point of this rare movie gem, a masterpiece of auteur cinema and a profound reflection on the Human nature. As a moviemaker, Abbas Kiarostami is well regarded in Europe as one of the great directors from the asian continent, together with the great japanese directors and the indian Satyajit Ray. The Palme D'Or that he received in the Cannes Film Festival is a proof of the profound recongnizement that the europeans have for him. It looks like that in the USA, the first contact with this outstanding moviemaker is becoming rather frutuous,demonstrating that auteur cinema is appreciated everywhere. Without a great budget, Kiarostami managed to create a work that emerges directly from the depths of our soul, placing the problem of suicide before different persons of different religions and cultural roots. The rather harsh atmosphere of the movie, together with the magnificent performance of Homayon Ershadi, the main actor, make this a memmorable work, a piece of fine tapestry in the world of modern filmaking. I can only find simmilarities with Kiarostami, in the works of greek directos Theo Angelopoulos, specialy in his masterpiece "Eternity and a day", both directors that create portrayals of the human soul, their specificities, conflicts and problems.

"taste of cherry" is kiarostami's most complete work while-surprisingly-simultaneously being his most personal.i regard it as personal for reasons that to ME are obvious:homayoun ershadi(lead actor)looks a bit like kiarostami,he(in character) apparantely is of an intellectual atheism,his situation(driving around in his car for most of the time of the movie)can be depicted as a metaphor of either the director viewing through his camera or the spectator watching the movie and generally he is easy for the modern artist to identify with in terms of extreme lonliness.kiarostami wisely chooses to give no direct reason for his decision to attempt suicide.instead he focuses on his attempt to make human contact just before departure and from this premise forms the powerful drama of the film.kiarostami can be regarded as one of the most important figures of post-modern cinema:in use of new narrative devices,in this case the dialogues resemble comic book characters conversations where lines are written in white clouds above the characters heads,on the other hand the movie is another take by the director on the subject of life as narrative.each passanger has a "story" to tell,and in the end its about which story will us and Badi'ee(Ershadi) swallow.also its compatible with the post-modern notion of the re-invention of the "text" in the readers conception due to its "open" ending,we can't tell whether Badi'ee commit's suicide or not because neither for us and nor for him that is not the point anymore,we have taken part in hearing differrent stories and and experienced different approaches towards existance.kiarostami reminds us that narrating life IS itself LIFE,just like cheherezad keeps on telling stories to remain alive in the thousand and one nights.taste of cherry is the most sympathetic and lyrical attempt of contemporary cinema in illustrating the urban mans loveless-ness.a word about the DVD:though i'm grateful to the creators of Criterion and not only because of this movie,i hope there will be some improvement in the extras of iranian movies in general.the interview with kiarostami is to old for this movie and due to the importance of this film in kiarostami"s canon, a fresh and extensive interview with the man is necessary,plus reviews by kiarostami-liking critics and praises of international fellow directors.

Khayyám was a few centuries before Nietzsche and Sartre in his questioning and denial of religion and god. It should also be no surprise that he was the contemporary of Khawrazmi, the Persian mathematician who has given the world the idea of zero, or NOTHING.
The abstraction of nothingness as dust is prevalent in Khayyám's work. So it is in this presentation. The alienation of modern man from nature too ties Kiarostami and Khayyám in an inverse manner, where Khayam saw all nature as nothing, except for the short flash of life, Kiarostami presents nature as a flash in a lifetime, of course along a long and winding road, where a single taste of cherries is equivalent to taking in the whole universe and attaining the freedom to evaluate life on YOUR own terms. If you choose to forgo cherries and mulberries to spare the ones you wish to live better, it is true shining of life.
The "naturalist" who tries to convince our hero, who is as bitter as any "Omar", that the taste of cherries is sufficient to give meaning to everything and make up for all angst, survives by stuffing birds. Are these not the same 900 year old birds who in Khayyám's poetry ask the question of being and nothingness from atop ruins of bygone kings?
There is not enough room here to get into the cinematography and camera work in this movie. Obviously Kiarostami has watched a lot of Kurosawa too. None the less,
the final scene of the movie is simply beyond expectation. In the age of cold "media", the use of hand held video makes reality into a story, no matter how elating or how painful it might have been, it cools it to a story to be reviewed. Kiarostami uses this device to review a whole life before it is extinguished.
There must be an equivalent to "reviewing one's life" in Khayyám's work which I have not discovered, at least not succinctly yet. Kiarostami may know it but doesn't, or can't tell us. But, so it was Khayyám's problem.

After watching this, I couldn't believe that I'd read so many reviews where people called this film boring. I don't get that. This was as far away from boring as you can get. Slow, yes, okay, fine, alright, but boring it is not. Besides, why shouldn't some movies be slow? It completely suits the purpose of the film. Anyhow, Taste of Cherry is easily one of the best films of the 90's in my opinion, and with an ending that is one of the most original, daring, provocative endings to a film that I've seen in a long time. A lot of people have reacted strongly against this point...I think they were looking at it the wrong way, perhaps not understanding -why- Kiarostami did this. I don't know...but it blew my mind. Anyhow...this is beautiful, passionate, moving filmmaking and I would recommend it to anyone.

This internationally acclaimed visual masterpiece by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami may leave you bored if you demand explosions, car chases, or a strong narrative in your cinema. But if you can appreciate a cinema of beautiful atmospheric compositions and calm conversations, then A Taste of Cherry might be for you. The DVD comes with interview footage of Kiarostami, speaking mostly in what I presume to be Farsi, with English subtitles. The director's comments on censorship, directorial style, his international reception, and even his relationship to Quentin Tarantino may give you a better understanding as to why his films are so beloved. Kiarostami offers his dislike of movies that "take the viewer hostage" (perhaps like those of Tarantino), in favor of those that might even put you to sleep, but leave you thinking about them and processing them for days or weeks to come.

When I first saw this movie I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I was obviously touched by this movie and at the same time I agreed with the critics that it was a bit slow. But I couldn't help think about it more and more as days went by. Then I saw a brief interview of Abbas Kiarostami. At one point he mentioned the kind movies he wanted to make and those he didn't. He didn't want to make movies that would hold the audience hostage with high suspense and after the show when the adrenaline drops down the audience would feel cheated. What he wants to make is "boring" movies and he mentioned that he actually felt asleep in some movies he considered to be great.There's no need for pulse rates to go high, the greatest achievemnt of a filmamaker comes when the audeince thinks about the movie for at times length after they get out of the cinema hall. When they can't shake off the feeling of seeing the movie and that feeling lingers on for a long long time.

And for sure, he was absolutely right. I couldn't shake off this movie. It actually hit me slowly, literally. This is a great movie. It has served its purpose. Why Mr Badi want to kil himself is totally irrevelant, that's not the point. We see a desperate man who has lost all will to live. It's as simple as that. All the characters in this movie feels real, too real..like watching my neighbours and friends go about their business. The movie is slow albeit one point. When Badi snaps a picture of a couple, he feels a sudden rush of doubt about what he is about to do. He says to the taxidermist to make sure he's still alive before putting the dirt on him. A stunning scene.

I'm a great admirer of roger ebert but I've to disagree with him on this one. I think this is an important movie.Even though it won the the palm d'ore, it's not taken serioulsy all around and many past great movies have been misunderstood. I've an instinct that after some dozen odd years this movie will stand the test of time and be considered a remarkable achievement.

This movie is one of my favorites. On an abstract level, it is just the kind of movie that appeals to me. It raises complex philosophical and psychological questions. The overall tone encourages one to ponder these questions and the movie encourages reflection and introspection. The depth of those conflicts can not be adequately understood on a first viewing alone: each time I watch it I am able to reach a little deeper into them.

The cinematography focuses on simplicity. Most of the movie is shot from the inside of a Land Rover while the main character drives aimlessly or talks with one of the passengers he picks up. There is no lack of imagination, though. The idea is to create a kind of stark reality, without grandeur. The effect is to bring one man's life and his character to the forefront and to keep it there: we feel a distinct connection with this man as a result of the simple method of movie-making. The acting, I think, is amazing. Ershadi imparts astounding depth into his character - there is no bombast or superficiality present: he is totally immersed in his character. The viewer develops a deep connection with this character despite his quiet and unexcitable personality. The main character is often criticized as coming across as bland, but I think that there very subtle (yet intense) emotion there.

The video and sound are excellent. The Criterion Collection can always be counted on to produce high quality DVD's and this one is no exception.

All in all, a challenging but most rewarding viewing experience. Highly recommended...

I'm afraid this is one of those films that you just have to see. No attempt at paraphrase or rhetoric can add to what's already there on the screen. You might want to talk about the technical features, the lack of music, the point of view shots in the car, the beautifully desolate views of the hills around Tehran,the ambiguity of the ending - it's all just noise in my opinion. This film (like any other of true quality) is not what people say about it. It's to be experienced. You have a feeling of being taken somewhere else for 95 minutes, even though the realist feel should rightfully keep you grounded - somehow it has an element which uplifts you. I was extremely happy and alive for the rest of the day after seeing this - perhaps surprising considering the subject matter. I don't know anything about Mr Kiarostami (aside from his reputation) or the actors involved, but I am so glad I watched this film and look forward eagerly to see another of his.