To many critics, Iran has one of the most exciting cinemas on the international film scene. Despite – or perhaps because of – religiously imposed restrictions on content, Iranian directors have been forced to find creative ways to tell complex stories that manage to explore taboo issues while obeying the letter of the law. The films often have a minimalist, documentary-like style (often, children and other non-professional actors are the stars) that recalls Italian neorealism, but there are also deliberate breaches of the fourth wall, allowing the filmmakers to explore the boundary between movies and real life.
Abbas Kiarostami is generally regarded as the dean of Iranian filmmakers; to date, he’s the only one who’s won the Palme d’Or. He tied, with Japanese director Shohei Imamura’s The Eel, for the prize in 1997 with Taste of Cherry, which remains Kiarostami’s most controversial film. Its protagonist is bent on suicide (a proscribed topic in the Islamic nation) and spends a day driving around Teheran looking for someone to help bury his body. His passengers try to talk him out of killing himself, but he seems determined. The film ends with a coup de cinema that some critics have seen as a cop out, while others find it a brilliant solution that does justice to both sides of the argument. Kiarostami has since worked outside Iran, with European actors and locations, but Cherry remains one of his most challenging and exhilarating films.
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