The whole film could be curtailed into a short film. There are a lot of superfluous scenes which you can take out without harming the entirety of the film. It is simply a pretentious film by an ambitious novice director-writer. The dialogues are pathetic attempts made to give the film the look and feel of an "intellectual" film but all in vain. Quite contrary to what some Iranian critics claim, the film is replete with cliches: a lonely, reticent man living in solitude of his unfurnished, run-down flat; a cat which is fed milk by Ali; geraniums; a window opening to a beautiful plant climbing the wall in contrast to the gloomy hallway; a few books; a vintage Buick with which the lead character, Ali, earns his living; and coffee, lots of it, among other references to what the director thinks represent life of an intellectual.
I wonder if the director, Saheb al-Zamani, has watched too much Tarkovsky and Kiarostami. You can't help thinking if the film is not a bad imitation of Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry, although this film does not deal with the subject of suicide. However, the style is very similar.
You can skip most scenes because you know it's a repeated scene (like giving milk to the cat), or a boringly long shots of insignificant scenes.
I've generously given 3 stars to the film thanks the acting of Ali Mosaffa, Leyla Hatami and Mahtab Keramati.
