David Lynch has a cinema of his own, a cinema so familiar yet strange that can only be described as Lynchian. His trademarks are his fascination with dark secrets of small cities, his taste for low/middle frequency noise, dark and rotting environments, distorted characters, a polarized world (angels vs. demons, Madonnas vs. whores), debilitating damage to the skull or brain, his use of slow-motion during key scenes of violence, abundant usage of red curtains, strobe lights, extreme surrealism and his interest in close-ups of eyes.

If you look at his movies from “Eraserhead” and “Blue Velvet” to “Lost Highway” and “Inland Empire”, you will find almost all these elements present. This list introduces 10 movies that are not directed by David Lynch, but have used Lynchian elements abundantly.

1. Donnie Darko (2001)

Who made it? Richard Kelly, he became a cult star with “Donnie Darko”, a stylistic mystery movie which is original yet owing so much to other films and filmmakers.

What is it about? The movie is about a troubled teenager who is obsessed with visions of a large bunny rabbit that make him commit a series of crimes.

What is Lynchian about this movie? It is not impossible to think about Lynch’s three rabbits whenever you see the large mysterious bunny in “Donnie Darko”. Meanwhile, it is the overall sense of mystery and odd occurrences that make you feel you are watching a movie by David Lynch.

Richard Kelly interestingly built his story with enigmatic elements and dreams. The empty silent city is not much different from Lynchian cities in “Blue Velvet” and “Lost Highway”. What you may never forget after watching “Donnie Darko” are Donnie’s (Jake Gyllenhaal’s) eyes, he somehow looks like Kyle MacLachlan, but deadly sinister.

2. Pi (1998)

Who made it? Darren Aronofsky, who was 29 at the time when making the movie and now is considered one of the masters of contemporary American cinema with movies such as “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan”.

What is it about? A math scientist discovers something mysterious about the number Pi that can change the world and now different groups of people want to get to this number.

What is Lynchian about this movie? Today Pi is a cult film like Eraserhead, but Aronofsky’s debut owes so much to David Lynch’s debut. Both films are shot in grainy black and white with the minimum imaginable budget. Both films managed to make a reputation for their young directors as future masters of composition.

Pi is not that dreamy, however the way it narrates the story of its main character and the way it leads to the final sequence in which he drills his head are so Lynchian that you just cannot forget about the Eraserhead ending. Aronofsky’s use of sounds is also another Lynchian element in the movie.

3. Being John Malkovich (1999)

Who made it? Charlie Kaufman (“Adaptation”) as the writer and Spike Jonze (“Her”) as the director.

What is it about? Craig Schwartz is an unemployed puppeteer who accidentally finds a way that can make him see the world from John Malkovich’s eyes.

What is Lynchian about this movie? The story is so crazy that you can only consider David Lynch as its director, however hard scriptwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze try to make a movie that is as much as their own as it owes to Luis Bunuel and David Lynch.

The movie also has a scene where we see everyone as Malkovich, a funny yet unsettling scene that is so much Lynchian. The movie may not look like any particular movie of Lynch, but its overall mood is pure Lynchian.

4. Tetsuo (1989)

Who made it? Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto who once made “Tstsuo: Iron Man” and now famous for Tetsuo, its sequels and also “A Snake of June”.

What is it about? It is a story of a man named Metal Fetishist who likes to put metals into his body!

What is Lynchian about this movie? Like Pi, this movie (shot in 16mm) is also a grainy black and white movie with bizarre elements which are Lynchian (think about the surgical scenes of inserting metals in the flesh).

The bizarre story and its extremely graphic scenes (those so-called erotic ones and also the gore ones), which at some points are strangely funny, can only be understood if you decide that you are watching a Lynchian movie that is happening in a world of sick imaginations.

5. Perfect Blue (1997)

Who made it? Satoshi Kon, who died prematurely at the age of 46 in 2010 and has made interesting animes such as “Paprika”.

What is it about? A pop idol leaves her band to become an actress.

What is Lynchian about this movie? The movie is made long before “Mulholland Drive.”, however both movies are so close thematically.

“Perfect Blue” is not so panoramic in its story-telling and only focuses on a single singer/actress, but its narrative strategy of an innocent singer turning to an actress of nude scene is so much close to Lynch’s ideology about Hollywood in “Mulholland Drive.” The interesting thing is that in “Perfect Blue” the line between reality and fiction, sanity and insanity is blurred in a way that is purely Lynchian.

While Giallo means yellow, the giallo movies are colored in blood red. As known to every cinephile around the world, giallo is a 20th century Italian genre of literature and cinema which is so close to crime and mystery. However, the stylistic feature of such Italian works of giallo are so different and distinguished that nowadays giallo is remembered not by the yellow-covered paperback crime book of Aghata Christie, Edgar Wallace and Raymond Chandler published in Italy, but by an array of movies directed by filmmakers like Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Sergio Martino, Pupi Avati and many more.

Giallo movies are remembered by their beautiful female leads such as Edwige Fench, Barbara Bach, Daria Nicolodi, Barbara Bouchet, Suzy Kendall, Ida Galli and Anita Strindberg. Movies with annoying shocking music, disguised and masked murderers, sharp knives and sex maniacs in the shadows. Giallo movies came into existence in the 1960s, bloomed in the 1970s and declined in the 1980s. Yet its influence can be seen in today’s cinema; while Wes Craven, John Carpenter and Eli Roth kept it alive in the US, Dario Argento and Pupi Avati continued making giallo movies till today (Avati’s new movie with Sharon Stone as the lead character will be released in the near future).

Giallo movies with all their pitfalls (sometime nonsensical plot lines and often stupid characters and predictable end twists) is still alive; recent movies by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (Amer and The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears) and Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio) shows how healthy and updated giallo cinema is and what a wonderful premises it creates for young filmmakers who make visually stunning films.

The 15 giallo movies listed here are by no means the best giallo movies of all time; they are movies that give you a holistic knowledge about giallo movies, its strengths and weaknesses. We chose almost all the movies from 1970s; since this is the decade that giallo reined the world. So, read this list as the introduction to giallo movies and enjoy it.

1. Blood and Black Lace (1964)

Plot: Isabella (Francesca Ungaro), one of the many beautiful models employed at a fashion house is violently killed by an assailant wearing a featureless white mask. Police starts investigating the murder, when Isabella’s diary is found, everyone in the gallery become nervous, they all have forbidding secrets.

What is so important about the movie: Blood and Black Lace (Italian: Sei donne per l’assassino; also known as Six Women for the Murderer) is simply the best giallo movie ever. Made in 1964 by Mario Bava, the movie was so influential that you can trace its impact on filmmakers like Dario Argento, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Wes Craven. Bava’s excessive use of color (which gives you the feeling of looking at paintings), contrast between light and shadow, beautiful and semi-naked girls as victims, ominous music and different plot twists helped to make Blood and Black Lace the touchstone of giallo movies.

Mario Bava made the movie after Black Sunday (1960) and Black Sabbath (1963) in the most fruitful period of his filmmaking career, the time when not only his movies were visually breathtaking, their plotlines were well thought and developed. Blood and Black Lace is famous for its stalk-and-kill sequences which are abundant with violence and blood and of course sex (for its time), many filmmakers repeated his style in near future in slasher movies like “Friday The 13th” series.

2. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

Plot: Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante) is an American writer living in Rome with his model girlfriend Giulia (Suzy Kendall). He is suffering from writer’s block, and wants to go back to the U.S., but he witnesses an attempted murder. The Murder is a serial killer hunting young girls and Sam is determined to find out who the killer is.

What is so important about the movie: As the plot line shows, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Italian: L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo) tells a simple and familiar story of a giallo movie. Made in 1970 and directed by Dario Argento, as his directorial debut, the film is without a doubt one of the best giallo movies ever made. Argento wrote the script with Fredric Brown’s novel The Screaming Mimi in mind. Not only the movie was a commercial success, it was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe award for best motion picture in 1971.

Though it is Argento’s first movie (he was a well-known screenwriter and co-wrote the story of Once Upon a Time in The West with Bernardo Bertolucci and Sergio Leone); he manged to thrill audience and critics with his debut. His elegant use of camerawork, light and shadows, colors and editing combining complicated and unpredictable plot line made The Bird with the Crystal Plumage one of the best examples of giallo and a reference for filmmakers to come. It was deservedly placed 272nd in Empire magazine’s “500 Greatest Movies of All Time” list.

3. Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970)

Plot: A bored housewife Minou (Dagmar Lassander) is beguiled by a stranger who lures her into his chamber, makes love to her, takes nude photos of her and then starts blackmailing her.

What is so important about the movie: Le foto proibite di una signora per bene made in 1970 by Luciano Ercoli is not one of the best examples of giallo movies. However, the film has been cited as “defining Ercoli’s style”, featuring the recurring theme of “the nightmare of being threatened by one’s own sexual partner” and thus it is one of the early examples of “Sexually Charged Giallo” movies.

DVD Talk reviewer Glenn Erickson rated the film three-and-a-half stars out of five, writing that it “looks and sounds great, with attractive settings and cinematography. But its unconvincing sexual blackmail story isn’t engaging, and we keep watching mainly to find out if there are going to be any surprise”. Erikson is right, the blackmail plot does not make sense, but it is not important because you are dealing with a movie in which its female characters have time to change their clothes in each scene, no matter how frantic their situations are!

4. A Bay of Blood (1971)

Plot: Countess Federica (Isa Miranda) is attacked and strangled to death by her husband, Filippo Donati (Giovanni Nuvoletti) and then he is murdered himself. It is believed to be a suicide, the heirs show up as well as a group of young people on vacation and the killer is ready to kill all of them!

What is so important about the movie: Twitch of the Death Nerve (Italian: Ecologia del delitto, mostly known as Blood Bath, A Bay of Blood and Reazione a catena), is a 1971 Italian horror film directed by Mario Bava, it is one of his most violent, bloody and unfortunately nonsensical film. The film is full of killings and it is suitable only for hardcore giallo fans and historians who want to know about the roots of American slasher movies in the 1980s; movies like “Friday the 13th”, “Nightmare at Elm Streets”, the subsequent “Scream” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. The film sets model for future slasher movies: lots of nudity and topless girls plus machetes and blood flood.

In 2005, Total Film named Twitch of the Death Nerve one of the 50 greatest horror films of all time; but don’t take it seriously, just watch the movie for its profound nudity and blood.

5. A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971)

Plot: Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) is the daughter of a wealthy lawyer and politician. She dreams of killing her neighbor Julia and when Julia’s corpse is found, Carol becomes nervous, is she the killer?

What is so important about the movie: A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (Italian: Una lucertola con la pelle di donna; released as Schizoid in the US) made in 1971 by Lucio Fulci is notorious for its sex scenes and orgies, maybe the most memorable one is the lesbian scene between Bolkan and Strindberg, two of the hottest actresses of the time. The movie is important as a giallo for its great use of a theme in giallo movies: driving a woman to madness.

Bolkan did her job greatly as Mrs. Hammond and there is another thing worth mentioning about the movie: fashion. Clothes and accessories were an essential part of giallo movies and in A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, it is rich with a la mode women. The movie is also important for its emphasis on psycho therapy and power of dreams, yes, the director knows two or three things about Freud!

6. The Case of The Scorpion’s Tail (1971)

Plot: A widow inherits a small fortune after her husband’s death in a jet crash. She wants to run away with her lover, but she is murdered and the money is stolen. An insurance investigator gets involved in this mystery and tries to find the murderer who does not leave behind any traces.

What is so important about the movie: The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail (Italian: La coda dello scorpione) made in 1971 by Sergio Martino, is a giallo movie in which a great sum of money plays a vital role. There are many giallo movies with a suitcase of money goes from one hand to another, only to make the pile of corpses higher. However, Martino’s film is memorable because it is beautifully directed and the suspense amplifies as the movie goes on. The movie is a timeless classic for its well developed mystery scenario by legendary Ernesto Gastaldi, unforgettable music by Ennio Morricone and Anita Strinberg in the leading role.

7. Short Night of the Glass Dolls (1971)

Plot: The corpse of reporter Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel) is found in a Prague plaza and brought to the local morgue. Gregory is however alive but no one notices it. He tries to remember how he is murdered and he has very limited time.

What is so important about the movie: Everything! Not only Short Night of the Glass Dolls is one of the best and most innovative giallo movies of 1970s, it is one of the best directorial debut giallo movies. Made by Aldo Lado in 1971, it features Ingmar Bergman’s muse, Ingrid Thulin as the mischievous female and Barbara Bach as the beautiful innocent girl. There is almost no gore in the movie and if the movie was made two decade earlier or later it would instantly be branded as a mystery classic with satanic undertones.

The movie is told from the memories of a dead man who is not dead and his memories are going to lead us to the forbidding truth. The Short Night of the Glass Dolls is Rosemary’s Baby without the devil’s child and its ending scene (the innocent girl being molested by nude Satanists) is a direct homage to Polanski’s masterpiece.

One will never forget Short Night of the Glass Dolls, because it deals with one of the most horrifying fears of man: to be considered dead while you are still alive and awake. The brutal ending shows Aldo is not a filmmaker who betrays his audience by cheap happy endings.

“Real Time” is universally defined as the narratological method wherein filmic events are portrayed simultaneous with the viewers’ experiences. For example, if a movie that is shot in real time is two hours long, then the plot of that movie covers two hours of fictional time.

This technique can be enforced by varying levels of precision. In some television shows, such as 24 (2001-2010), every minute of screen time is a minute of fictional time. In other stories, each day’s strip does not necessarily translate into a new day of fictional time, but each year of the strip does correspond with one year of fictional time.

Real time is ancient in origin, dating back to the climactic structure of classical Greek drama. In cinema, the real time technique makes it possible for directors to experiment with many concepts. If the director’s wish is to thrill the audience, or transmit abstract concepts like love, real time is the best medium through which the audience can grasp the entire aspect of these ideals.

Throughout cinematic history, many movies contain the real time technique. The below fifteen entries are some of the greatest examples of this method. The list demonstrates to cinephiles how, in the course of sixty years, directors who initially utilized this method as a tool for excitement has subsequently transformed the technique to create more experimental and character-driven films.

15. Nick of Time (1995), dir. John Badham

Nick of Time may not be one of the best films ever made, but it is a political thriller that touches the surface of various issues, and it is narrated in real time. The film, however, deviates from conventional real time techniques via dream sequences and slow motion.

The movie is somewhat entertaining, especially when the audience witnesses the protagonist Gene Watson’s (Johnny Depp) attempted murder of Mr. Smith (Christopher Walken). Yet, it is the real time technique that brands Nick of Time as a memorable film.

14. Timecode (2000), dir. Mike Figgis

Timecode is deservedly one of the most experimental movies of all the time. It was constructed from four continuous, ninety-minute takes that were filmed simultaneously by four cameramen (this was accomplished by the screen divided in quarters, and the four shots were shown simultaneously).

One needs to watch the film at least four times before he or she can understand the story; thereafter, the viewer will need to watch it several more times to see the connections between the stories, and then a few more times after that to understand how Mike Figgis has managed to direct this gem.

Since Timecode is made of four long takes and no cuts, it is obviously a real time film. The real time technique and quarter-divided screen provide the viewer with an omniscient view of a group of people dealing with love and divorce issues. It is only through these two experimental techniques that one realizes how difficult and complex life is.

13. Tape (2001), dir. Richard Linklater

A room, two men, and one woman; that’s enough for Richard Linklater to make one of the best real time movies of all time. In two hours, the audience observes three characters discuss a rape situation, as well as the complex issue of love and its many definitions.

In Tape, Linklater tackles concepts such as friendship, forgiveness, and revenge. The film also depicts how people’s understanding of others is limited, which is why the film is shot in a single room. Ultimately, the film represents how one’s life can change in a course of two hours, which is the reason why the movie is in real time.

12. Run Lola Run (1998), Tom Tykwer

One of the most innovative movies in cinema history is Run Lola Run, directed by Tom Tykwer. The movie is simple: Lola (Franka Potente) has twenty minutes to give her boyfriend (Moritz Bleibtreu) some money before he robs a supermarket, or he will die!

Tykwer presents Lola with three possibilities to accomplish her feat, and the audience can choose an option based on each story’s ideology, narrated in real time. By using real time technique, Tykwer demonstrates how wonderful life is, and how many possibilities are just around the corner, waiting for all individuals.

11. Fail-Safe (1964), dir. Sidney Lumet

Fail-Safe, directed by Sidney Lumet, is one of the most overlooked and neglected war films, it lost in the box office “war” to the funny comedy about war, Dr. Strangelove (1964). Fail-Safe narrates the story of the United States accidental nuclear attack on Soviet soil; contrary to Dr. Strangelove, satire is non-existent in this movie.

Henry Fonda and Walter Matthau both gave great performances in this film, as the viewer experiences the threat of humanity’s demise, and the subsequent anxiety of high ranking authorities. The viewer completely comprehends this hellish situation, thanks to the director’s calculated usage of the real time technique.

10. The Set-Up (1949), dir. Robert Wise

One of the best film noirs of all time, The Set-Up chronicles the story of Stoker Thompson (Robert Ryan), a 35-year-old has-been boxer. Tiny (George Tobias), Stoker’s manager, is positive that Stoker will continue to lose fights, so Tiny takes money for a “dive” from a mobster and doesn’t inform the boxer of the set-up.

The film delves deep into the underworld of boxing. The great cinematography of Milton R. Krasner (how nicely he uses shadows) and fine direction of Robert Wise renders this movie as one of the best boxing films to date. The director’s use of the real time technique here not only makes the audience grab the edge of their seats, but it also emphasizes the bleak destiny of the main character.

9. United 93 (2006), dir. Paul Greengrass

This morose yet thrilling film chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked during the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. Director Paul Greengrass meticulously employs two techniques in order to demonstrate the tension and whereabouts of the flight attendants. The film is shot in documentary style; thus, the viewers believe everything they see, and the director utilizes the real time technique to portray the flight attendants’ traumatic encounters.

As a result of Greengrass’s wisdom, United 93 is one of the best movies about 9/11. The director, in such a believable manner, depicts the two hour trauma of being a hostage on a hijacked airplane. The crash scene at the end of the movie is devastating and demonstrates that there is no way out in real life.

Like Kurosawa or Hitchcock, Kiarostami successfully creates a unique filmmaking style, the Kiarostami style, and in the last thirty years, his style has been a source of inspiration for many directors around the world. Kiarostami has been one of the pillars of cinema for many years, and whether anyone likes or dislikes his movies, no one can omit his name from the files of contemporary cinema. He is a director whose movies any cinema lover must watch attentively.

Thus, we compiled the list below, especially for those who have seen his movies and those who have not. We hope, after reading the entries, people are excited and inspired enough to watch his movies. If so, we suggest cinephiles watching them in chronological order; only in this way film fans will understand how the director’s style evolved, and how Kiarostami became Kiarostami.

1. The Traveler (1974)

Kiarostami’s first feature film pays homage to neo-realism and Francois Truffaut’s 400 Blows (1959). The Traveler narrates the story of Qassem Julayi (Hassan Darabi), a wayward teenager who is in love with soccer, and his dream is to watch a match at the Amjadie stadium in Tehran. To accomplish his goal, he steals money and tries to sell a secondhand watch and a broken camera.

Pretending to take photos of his classmates, he also deceives and receives money from them. Toward the end, he sells his soccer ball and portable soccer goals. After a long day of making enough money, he goes to Tehran, and when he reaches the stadium, he is exhausted and falls asleep; when he wakes up, he discovers that the match is finished, and he is alone in the stadium.

Like any debut feature, the movie has some flaws. For instance, some scenes lack the necessary linking shots. In the scene when Qassem enters the classroom, for instance, the cameraman simply can’t place him in the frame, so the audience hears sound of a door then sees a sharp cut, and suddenly Qasem is behind his desk. Moreover, there is stylistic inconsistency; the director uses dramatic music in “exciting” scenes, which contrasts the film’s overall realistic/documentary style.

Nevertheless, these examples are all elements of the future “Kiarostami” style, which emphasizes realism; documentary and photography style; children as main characters; ignorant adults; thin plot line; and lonely protagonists. The Traveler may not be a perfect film, but after watching it, one will certainly know the director has a promising future.

Best Scene: The audience will never forget the whole sequence when Qassem deceives his classmates and pretends to take their picture.

2. The Report (1977)

The Report chronicles the story of a man whose life unravels when he is suspended from his job. Thereafter, he quarrels with his wife, which causes him to make an important decision. Though realistic, The Report is more akin to Iranian rare modern dramas, such as The Brick and Mirror (Khesht va Ayeneh, 1965), directed by Ebrahim Golestan, as well as other than neo-realism films.

The Report focuses on how losing one’s job can affect a man’s behavior and lead to detrimental actions, like suicide. The man, in the final scene, makes the decision to leave his wife and child behind—not because he is a loser, but because he thinks his absence is the only way they may have a future.

The Report is the most interesting film of Kiarostami’s career. Though the film is a domestic melodrama, the main characters are not children. The actors are professional, the story line is well developed, and generally one will not notice any technical flaws. Movies that Kiarostami shot before and after The Report always consist of scenes that people assume the camera shakes or the viewer believes some connecting shots are missing.

Best Scene: The scene in which the man goes to a diner. While waiting for his sandwich, the man listens to drunken people discussing important, philosophical and existentialist issues.

3. Where Is the Friend’s Home? (1987)

Where Is the Friend’s Home? is a pivotal point in Kiarostami’s career; it is a movie fans can call Kiarostamiesque. The film is the first safe destination of Kiarostami’s long journey to find a unique cinematic language that is both poetical and realistic. The film’s Iranian title derives from a poem by Sohrab Sepehri, an Iranian poet who is well-known for his love of nature and village life. Sepehri, who is also a painter, has greatly influenced Kiarostami’s films (In fact, Kiarostami’s photos contains Sepehri’s signature brush strokes.) Where Is the Friend’s Home? tackles the same morality questions that occupied Sepehri’s mind for years.

In this film, Kiarostami demonstrates the innocence of children and the morality of the villagers. In his long journey to find his classmate, Ahmed (Babek Ahmed Poor) understands how cruel and ignorant an adult’s world is. In the midst of the narrative, Kiarostami elevates some of his unique stylistic elements: balanced combination of documentary and fiction (docu-fiction), rare usage of music, and sparse plot line.

Where Is the Friend’s Home? is such an honest and crafty movie about being a young adult. Kiarostami was only forty-seven when he filmed this movie which earned him international recognition. During Locarno International Film Festival in 1989, the director was awarded the Bronze Leopard, the FIPRESCI prize (special mention), and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. The film deservedly entered BFI list of the “50 films you should see by the age of 14.”

Best Scene: Almost the whole movie; the final scene is key when Ahmed returns his classmate’s notebook to show the child that Ahmed finished the friend’s homework.

4. Close-Up (1990)

Kiarostami has always been interested in documentaries and presenting reality in cinema. Therefore, Close-Up, which refers to a cinematic technique, is a movie about the power of cinema. It is not surprising to know that the director wrote the script of Close-Up based on a news story about a man who impersonates famous Iranian film director, Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

Another delicately balanced docu-fiction, the audience views both Makhmalbaf and the impersonator (Hamid Sabzian). As the movie moves forward, the audience learns that the impersonator doesn’t introduce himself as Makhmalbaf for financial reasons; he loves cinema and enjoys being called Makhmalbaf.

Close-Up helped increase Kiarostami’s international recognition—it was awarded Quebec Film Critics Award at the Montreal International Festival of New Cinema and Video and FIPRESCI Prize at the International Istanbul Film Festival. In the 2012 Sight & Sound poll, it was voted, by critics, as one of “The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time.”

Best Scene: There is a long, memorable scene in which two main characters of the movie pass different streets on a motorcycle.

5. Life, and Nothing More… (1991)

The second part in the “Koker trilogy” (the first is Where Is the Friend’s Home?) narrates the story of a director in search of the actors in Where Is the Friend’s Home? after the disastrous Koker earthquake of 1990. Though the movie has a promising beginning, it is almost impossible to fathom that the film is based on one idea (life). That’s why the director’s journey at some points seems dull, and his encounters with different people who have lost loved ones are not dramatically fruitful.

However, in Life, and Nothing More… the audience isn’t searching for anything dramatic; if Close-Up (1990) is a fiction film based on real life events, Life, and Nothing More… is a documentary with few fictional elements. Thus, Life, and Nothing More… is a must watch for any Kiarostami fan, because the director uses, for the first time, “the dashboard camera” technique that matures in Taste of Cherry (1997) and elevates in Ten (2002).

This film introduced Kiarostami to Cannes Film Festival (and the director’s second home, France); it was presented in the Un Certain Regard section of the ceremony, and the critics lauded it.

There are many scenes in Life, and Nothing More…, for instance, the scene that reveals only the highway while the audience hears non-diegetic dialogue.