In Persian. 118 minute running time so at least 20 minutes too long. This was the first Kiarostami movies that I wasn’t thrilled with, probably because it’s a straight story instead of the gimmicky Close-Up and Shirin and Taste of Cherry (all of which I loved) … you don’t know what the hell is going on here, something about a communications project being held up by an old village lady who won’t die, maybe? It was never clear what was going on. Let me read some smarter people’s analysis and get back to the post….

Dick Brody called it a “comedy”, which it clearly wasn’t… apparently the guy wasn’t an engineer but a movie director, there to secretly film some local burial practices? I didn’t get that at all… Calum Marsh writes “[some scenes] seem somehow profound in their banality, a mystery of ineffable beauty.” Nah, they’re sort of forced .. this is one of Kiorastami’s lesser works, not greater works.