Kristin Thompson on Kiarostami’s Landscapes
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Over on the Criterion Channel, we’ve premiered our latest installment of Observations on Film Art, an original program that examines elements of cinematic style and how great filmmakers utilize them in their work. Hosted by film-studies scholar Kristin Thompson, this new episode centers on the late Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami and his haunting depictions of landscapes. In the above excerpt, Thompson highlights Where Is My Friend’s House? (1987) and Taste of Cherry (1997), two masterpieces now available to stream on the Channel, to demonstrate how the director’s prominent use of the deserts, mountains, and countryside of Iran heightens the lyrical qualities of his sparse, winding narratives.
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