24 Frames

Most people want to compare this movie to non-narrative visual art, and that's not what I saw. Really, it reminded me more of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, another collection of short stories which feels meticulously plotted yet like an illusion that vanishes when you try to make literal meaning out of it. The two are the best evocation of the era when short story collections mattered to normal people and vice versa. There are almost no humans, but the movie is full of perfectly observed character moments that are orchestrated with thematic precision. This is the Winesburg, Ohio of avant garde filmmaking, and probably a better cinematic version of that book's accomplishments in micro-observation than the adaptation.

As contemplative as watching ocean waves eternally roll in, as soaring as listening to Ave Maria while pigeons flutter about, as mysterious as daydreaming while clouds billow past, and as somber as watching death come from nowhere to stop life in its tracks, yet knowing that nature will simply continue on. Maybe these are the images an artist nearing his own end has in mind, an homage to the beauty of life in its simple, underappreciated moments, and at the same time, a calm acceptance of death.

I loved the concept of this film, particularly in the life that Kiarostami breathed in to Bruegel's Hunters in the Snow in frame 1, but found that what followed a little too similar, and that not knowing the source of inspiration for 21 of the next 23 frames to be a detractor. It's certainly immersive and meditative, demanding patience of the viewer or a frame of mind that allows simple images to wash over oneself, but at 114 minutes, nearly 5 minutes a frame, it seemed too much for me.

The final frame, containing the kiss between Teresa Wright and Dana Andrews at the end of The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) played in very slow motion on a computer screen, while trees sway outside in the darkness, is stirring, powerful stuff. The only thing we have are these moments when we cling to one another, and if only we could slow them down. I just wish the music selected for this piece was something more poetic than Andrew Lloyd Weber's Love Never Dies, and that it hadn't taken so long to get to it.

Gr8 Background ! It's like living wallpaper for your TV ! 24 LIVING FRAMES ! .hence the name. And some gr8 tunes too.

Frame 13 was brutal ! True and touching !

"I always wonder to what extent the artist aims to depict the reality of a scene. Painters capture only one frame of reality and nothing before or after it.

For "24 Frames" I started with famous paintings but then switched to photos I had taken through the years. I included about four and a half minutes of what I imagined might have taken place before or after each image that I had captured"

Abbas Kiarostami

24 Frames is an experimental film and was the final film of the Iranian legend "Abbas Kiarostami" which was released after his death in 2017. Those of you, who have seen his work, you may know him that he was a film-maker, photographer, and philosopher and this film was the final and last stroke of his mastery combined with all the metaphors of his personality and aura.

In this review, I will embark on personal exploration, as I've watched this film with my mother and for us, it was a one way trip to an art gallery, we both amazed and relished on the aspects and possible themes of all the "24 Frames". Throughout the film, I had an endless discussion with my mother, we detailed and professed every minute scene of this film, I can't relate you the elation I felt. There were 24 photographs, no characters, no dialogues, and yet we were mysterious about the frames, and happily, every frame ended with a sense of mediating, revealing something unique about this life and the world.

It's an open invitation to a free webinar for the distressed soul to enjoin on a meditation which brings prosperity and peace to your life,

an open invitation to an art gallery which gives you the perception of what happens before a photograph taken,

an open invitation to art students to let them learn the art and craft of filmography,

or an open call for people who are observant and deep about nature and surroundings.

It's a simple and unique film, which has the power to entangle your intellect and makes you think about small things, birds, ocean, places. As Rumi Said, "Silence is the best Alchemy", this film is class, which taught you to learn the language of silence and to enjoy life.

If you love myths, philosophy, art, and literature then "24 Frames" is the right door to bang in, and if you're a modern geek with superheroes and Nolan stuff, It would be a boring frame of life.

Abbas Kiarostami was probably Iran's most famous director ever. He died in 2016, right after completing the experimental "24 Frames". This movie features several scenes - many of them containing animals, snow or water - simply depicted as their own free-standing stories. No dialogue except for music, and no people except those who pass by. Characteristic of Kiarostami's frequent blending of simplicity and complexity, as well as his common theme of life and death. Like Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock, he was a director who revolutionized cinema.

This movie will not be for everyone. The absence of narrative and the single shots test your attention span. But if you want to see what a movie can be at its best, then this will be the film for you.