Abbas Kiarostami reinforces his claim to be world cinemas most challenging director with this non-drama, that is more interested in the sights and rhythms of the everyday than narrative. Were only told late in the day why an engineer (Dourani) and his colleagues are so interested in the fate of an elderly inhabitant of the village of Siah Dareh.
For the rest, we are left to speculate, as the film passes social observations and suggests living for the moment is preferable to hoping for the uncertain rewards of paradise. Shot through with Renoir-esque humanism, this attack on intellectual torpor is also a tribute to the Kurdish people. Utterly brilliant.