Features: DVD, Widescreen, English, Subtitled
Editor's Note
Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami (A TASTE OF CHERRY, THROUGH THE OLIVE TREES) goes for a meditative change of pace with FIVE: DEDICATED TO OZU, a gorgeous work set on the shores of Galicia in Spain. The 74-minute film consists of five pieces, all focusing on the ocean, with no camera movement (save for one brief pan) and only natural sound (except for short musical interludes linking the sections). The first piece centers on a chunk of driftwood on the shore as the waves slowly approach it, threatening its existence. For the second section, Kiarostami sets his camera up behind the boardwalk, with the beach in the distance, as people make their way in and out of camera range. The third part is back on the sand, watching a group of stray dogs interact, forming their own private society. Next, a parade of ducks come quacking one way, then the other, adding comic relief to the contemplative setting. And finally, the last scene is a nighttime opera of nature, as frogs and other animals make noise as the moon tries to peer through the clouds, a rainstorm approaches, and the water in a pond glistens. Made in 2003, the unusual film is a mesmerizing masterpiece of simplicity dedicated to the 100th birthday of the great Japanese writer-director Yasujiro Ozu, who attempted to capture real life in such moving family portraits as TOKYO STORY, A STORY OF FLOATING WEEDS, and EARLY SPRING. Kiarostami's slow-paced, minimalist arthouse film offers a poetic take on the unfolding cycle of nature.
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