Taste Of Cherry Reviews

Crap

Do not waste your time, mindless numbing rubish

Another gem from Iran

I saw this first time in a film festival and I was very impressed with Kiarostami. This is the way cinema should be; a simple subject matter explored with simple cinematography. Fantastic dialogue.

Hill load of cement

A man drives round and round a hill with a cement factory on it trying to get someone to kill him. It nearly killed me. Unutterably boring. The end is cliched and silly. Total tosh.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Feature: Excellent and moving

This is a wonderful film. I will send in a separate review of the bonus disc when it arrives, as that is also meant to be excellent (a masterclass in filmmaking).

I recommend you don't read the other reviews (unless they've been removed when you read this) because they've spoilt the ending. However, if you have, then still rent this movie. The other reviewers have got it wrong - think of last two minutes of the film as something that should have been among the DVD bonus features. It's not meant to be thought of as the real ending of the film. The film ends just before this bit, that is quite clear.

In the same way that some films end with funny 'outtakes' when people forget their lines, and this is clearly not meant to be part of the ending of the story, the same here. It's not an outtake, it's like part of a 'making-of' trailer. Just ignore it. It shouldn't have been appended to the end of the film. Don't treat it as such.

This is a wonderful moving piece of film that I absolutely loved from start to finish. Excellently acted, Kiarostami has to be the master of the in-car-whilst-driving-around-Iran technique. Having seen 'Ten' also I can't wait for his other films to come out on DVD.

how to make a simple, powerful film

I was really interested to watch this one. Being Iranian born and also heard a lot about the director. The dialogue was very natural and it was obvious that actors were improvising. It was a simple fim and a powerful one. I recommend this to anyone who loves the art of film making. An excellent example of powerful acting and skillful directorship.

Grim but not grim

Undeniably the theme of potential suicide is not the happiest of dilemmas, but somehow through the darkness the director has made a radiant film full of life, colour and even joy. The characters each have meaning. All struggle with life and indeed faith and are easily identifiable, even for Western eyes. Strangely one is left not with a feeling of despair, like the main character, but hope.

If you want lots of Hollywood syrup or panache, or simply Spiderman 3 don't watch this film, but if you want something thoughtful and reflective - watch!

Absolute nonsense

I persevered with this film from start to finish, expecting it to pick up and get interesting at some point. Unfortunately, I didn't. The dialogue in the film is pointless. The cinematography is OK, good shots of Iranian landscapes of 'nothingness', but there is a serious lack of anything else in this film.

The film overall, left me fuming that I had wasted almost 2hours. The end of the film is absolute nonsense.

Avoid at all costs.

Too dry, too subtle, too long.

This film is probably good if your a fan of the writer/actor/directer, Iranian or a real 'cinema' fanatic.

For me it was a lot like 'Open Water' without the wet stuff. Lots of silence, lots of long shots of uninteresting stuff, dialogue OK and a 'Is it finished?' ending.

Best bit was the taxidermist monologue, but that only took 5mins.

Would have made a very good 20-30 min short.

[Highly rated reviewer]

A debate on the nature of life

A circular, self-consciously difficult film from the great Kiarostami, which already points the way towards the increasing claustrophobia of his later work (it could almost be seen as a companion piece to his other 'car movie', 10), but which considers much wider issues. It really isn't a film about a man trying to get someone to help him commit suicide: it's about a man trying to deal with the central loneliness of existence.

Moreover, the ending, which everybody else on this page has so much trouble with, is part and parcel of the same idea (and also extremely typical of Kiarostami and his methods, which almost always involve some form of 'pull-back' either at the beginning or the end to reveal the artifice behind his art). The collaborative nature of film-making (including a small army unit to provide extra sound), is played off against the singularity of the man, Mr Badii. We are given few details of his problems, of what has led him to this pass, because they aren't important. For Kiarostami, we are all Mr Badii, faced daily with the possibility of ending it all if things become too tough, and desperately in need of some sort of witness to that choice, someone who might help us. This film is not just Mr Badii's witness, but it is there for all of us. Thus, the ending is central to the whole concept.

For many, the cripplingly slow pace will put them off; for others the consistently elusive manner. For a few, though, this stands as one of the greatest of all works of humanist art.