Abbas Kiarostami gives us a beautiful look on rural life in Iran through the condescending eyes of a newly arrived man from the city, who brings a team to produce a journalistic/cinematic (not really clear) report on the mourning ceremonies in that isolated village. Unfortunately, Kiarostami wraps it all up in a too self-indulgent piece with too much overreliance on the observational approach to filmmaking barely including any true story to tell.

Of course, the film is visually stunning. The wheat fields, the roads, the little town, the darkness, the close-ups… In special, the elliptical presence of various relevant characters might be one of the most unique things ever put into film by far and deserves the biggest of praises. So, for sure, the photography and all the technical elements applied in the making of the film are of the highest quality and beauty, but its apparent void of true message make it more superfluous and less poignant than it could really be, if the weight of the movie was more spread among various departments.

It is precisely in its writing and storytelling were this undefinition is most present. Yes, you can understand and feel the patronising look and attitude by our main protagonist (played by Behzad Dorani) towards the people of the small rural village of Siah Darreh and their way of life. But, there is not much else. In a way, what Kiarostami tries to do is a documentary in a fiction style, exposing us to how these people grow and study, work, deal with love, death, family, dogma, patriarchy… But its lack of clear direction and argumentative thread hurts more than benefits the film, making it a disconnected amalgamation of scenes dealing with the various topics.

In conclusion, as an audience while watching this film we feel quite the same way as the Engineer and its team feel in the town: lost and not really knowing what to do while being there. For sure it is a well-crafted and beautiful film but, instead of leaving it all to the so-called art of visual poetry, alongside that a bit more of guidance would be helpful and would make the movie more engaging.