Taste of cherry review

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami 

Starring Homayoun Ershadi, Abdolrahman Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari, Safar Ali Moradi 

Mr Badii drives randomly across the Iranian countryside looking for someone, anyone who would do him one simple job. And pay well it will. A handsome sum he promises. 

But despite the widespread poverty that seemingly consumes every facet of his surroundings, he is unable to convince the strangers he meets to do this one simple job for him. And that job? 

He needs someone to bury him the morning after he commits suicide. He's already dug the hole, now he just needs someone, anyone to throw a few dozen shovels of dirt.

 

As the keen, middle-aged observer in the lead role actor Homayoun Ershadi delivers a performance that kind of reminds me of Javier Bardem in the Coen brothers' masterpiece No Country For Old Men (2007). Now I do know that their respective missions are different and absolutely so but you could watch either in a dialogue-free scene for 10 minutes and walk away with a thousand meanings. There's almost a sullen, defeatist undercurrent evident in their mannerisms. one second contemplative, the next even humorous, before becoming possibly dangerous. 

Writer/Director Abbas Kiarostami won a Palme d’ Or at Cannes for this film in 1997 and it's easy to see why. He lets the story unfold at a slow, poetic pace. Contemplation is given ample time in the form of long stares, gorgeous and haunting symbolism and curiosities that Mr Badii encounters as he drives his Range Rover across the dusty landscape. I can see the influence this film has on Jonathan Glazer’s masterpiece Under the Skin (2013). In the film, Scarlett Johansson also roams the streets in a vehicle stalking locals. Destiny awaits both but we wonder what's the point? and to an extent that is the point. 

The search for meaning also means breaking the fourth wall. The taste of cherries' motives is exactly as they should be. Some will likely want a more definitive answer, to be left spoon-fed the ultimate prize. That, of course, would defeat the purpose of the journey. It's a grey area that entices, provokes and challenges. After all the journey is the destination. A soldier, religious figures, forces of nature. is anyone willing to provide the sounding board for Mr Badii to help him reach his ultimate goal? You'll have to watch to find out. 

All in All, it's a fantastic work of art by Abbas Kiarostami. The narrative might seem slow to many but this is essential to achieving a sense of empathy for the characters involved. The movie takes its time to eventually bring the audience to an unexpected climax of anxiety as it closes to an end leaving both the protagonist and the viewer with a deep sense of struggle for life. Those unaware of the power and astonishing beauty of film culture in Iran are in for an eye-opening treat. Simple yet complex at the same time. 

Everything it would seem does return to Earth 10/10.