Taste of Cherry (dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 1997). Taste of Cherry is a minimalist masterpiece about the preciousness of life. Like Tarkovsky, Kiarostami shares a passionate, mystical yearning for metaphysical possibility, and this film seems to exist in a completely spiritual reality. With long, static close-ups of its human subjects and flowing tracking shots of a car driving through winding dirt roads, Kiarostami reaffirms the viewer's experience of time. At first, it might appear as if nothing is happening, but this is only half-true; the film “happens” within the viewer instead of on the screen, which the unambiguous but ultimately honest ending makes apparent. Taste of Cherry is a film--it isn’t “real” in any kind of tangible sense--and Kiarostami's aesthetic doesn't really allow a visceral reaction to his work. But the viewer's intellectual interaction with the film is real, and this is what must be affirmed. A.
Departures (dir. Yojiro Takita, 2008). Departures is a quietly composed film about death and the human need to say goodbye to loved ones. Despite coming from a culture with an awkward aversion to death, Takita’s film features candid depictions of traditional Japanese funerary rites. While obviously reverential, Takita also seems to be fascinated by these traditions and their complicated place in Japanese society and mind. Departures is flawed by the unnecessary narration and a few affected passages played for pathos that conflict with the quiet sense of humor that otherwise pervades the film, but it is noteworthy for its immense cultural importance. B+.
