「Following the sound into the painting」Abbas Kiarostami: Life, Both On‑Screen and Off‑Screen

Abbas’s camera never raises its voice, yet it possesses the power to slow down time. As the final instalment of his “Koker Trilogy”, “Through the Olive Trees” adopts a layered play‑within‑a‑play structure. Amid the ruins left by the earthquake, a film shoot is underway. As the actors Hossein and Tahereh repeatedly reshoot the same scene, class divides, the trauma wrought by disaster, and a man’s stubborn devotion spill ceaselessly beyond the fictional dramatic frame, blurring the line between performance and reality. Towards the film’s close, Hossein races through an olive grove. The long shot pulls back into an extremely wide panoramic view, so distant that any clear resolution vanishes into the wind. Abbas offers no ending. What he leaves us with is nothing but the act of running itself — testimony to life’s unyielding vitality rising from the rubble.

By Mr.Shan