Abbas Kiarostami said at the press conference for this film that people don't go to the movies to see stories they go to see truths. Yea maybe, but they want their truths to be wrapped in stories.
This is the story, eventually, of a college girl who turns tricks on the side. She is sent by her boss to a special client who turns out to be one of the boss's old teachers. He simply wants to have dinner. She wants to sleep. They begin to bond even as her possessive boyfriend comes around.
Beginning in a bar with a long sequence of the hooker on the phone to her boyfriend and working out from there this is a very deliberate film which for a long time seems to be about and heading toward something. The trouble is that when the film ends...no when the film STOPS, suddenly and unexpectedly, you're left wondering what the hell it was that you just saw.
Yes the film is good, to a point, but the film falls apart since it doesn't seem to have any point.
One the other hand once the film gets going and the three characters are interacting the film is pretty good-until is just stops.
The real reason to see the film is Tadashi Okuno as the teacher. According to Kiarostami he has only done supporting roles and extra work. He never had a lead before. Kiarostami tricked him into taking the role by telling him it was only a small role and then built the whole film around him. He is a marvelous actor and a real find (who never wants another lead even though Kiarostami told him he has another starring part for him)
My feeling when it ended was "yes and?". Actually my feeling was I should have watched Certified Copy yet again.
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