A Taste of Cherry

This is the best film yet that I have seen from Iranian auteur, Abbas Kiarostami. The story is quite simple -- concerning a middle aged man driving around the outskirts of Teheran in his Land Rover searching for someone to help him commit suicide. First he picks up a young soldier, and his intentions are unclear. Soon, he drives the soldier up a remote hill where he reveals that there is a large sum of money in the car, and he will give it to the soldier if at 6:00 the next morning he will show up and call the name, Mr. Badii (the driver). If there is an answer the soldier is to help Mr. Badii out of the hole, if there is no answer, the soldier need only throw 20 shovel-fulls of dirt into the hole and the money is his. The soldier is horrified at the idea and runs away. Next, Mr. Badii picks up a slightly older, Islamic seminarian who attempt to convince him to not commit suicide because it is forbidden by the Koran. He too refuses. Last he picks up an old man who does much of the talking. The old man reveals that he too attempted to commit suicide at one time, but couldn't go through with it after eating a handful of mulberries. He also tries to convince Mr. Badii to not go through with it, but reluctantly agrees to take on the job because he needs the money to help his ill son. It seems to me as if Mr. Badii is searching less for someone to help him kill himself, and more for someone to connect with -- someone who will give him a reason to keep living. It's a touching and understated film that at times seems to be welling up with humanity. It feels very natural, and though some have commented that it is slow and boring, I never found it to be so. It is a film that seems to ask if there is any meaning to life, but secretly knows that there is.