Only a Game? Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy

Article discussing meaning, value and techniques of the Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami.

Excerpt:

How can I recommend a film on the basis that you probably will not like it? That is the conundrum set by Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy (2010). My interest in the film began in the Chinese-whispered way that much culture is exchanged, I read a review that gave me the first sense of the film's difficulties and made me want to know more. Seeing the film for myself, there were moments of what I can almost describe as repulsion. It was not the discomfort of squeamish filmgoers at a gory movie or the turning-away of a prim person during a sex scene, this aversion arose in response to an unusually dull combination of image, narrative, dialogue, camera work and acting. The feeling was so strong that I had to recall the review written by Michael Wood to reassure myself all this might be intentional, that it might be art.

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