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.

I find it puzzling that some critics found this last work by Abbas Kiarastam, made as he knew he was approaching the end of his days, disappointingly uncinematic. 24 Frames seems to me the logical end point for the arc of the career of one of the fundamentally cinematic artists. Surely, the Kiarastami aesthetic can best be boiled down to an Ozu style static camera mounted on a car window, a still, pensive acknowledgement of a world in flux.

Or perhaps one can see this work as an inversion of that aesthetic. For here, Kiarastami uses digital animation to bring movement to still images: a painting, a post-card, and 22 of his own still photographs, trying to inject temporality back into a "frozen moment". The movement comes mostly in the form of animal life, a nature that seems very much in peril. The few contributions by human characters are generally destructive, as if the humans think they live in frozen moments, a world that cannot end. Kiarastami seems to be trying to remind the viewer of the fragility of life in this world, how quickly we may be approaching it's end, as of course, he was approaching his as he made the film.

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 !

Beautiful film and some frames are striking. It is slow and would take peserverance to sit till the end. I am surprised it'd be shown in HK cinemas which are usually quite commercial - probably because of his big name. I fell asleep from 11-16th frame, then again the last two frames. But no audience left the cinema which I find quite amusing.

I wouldn't say it's a great film. At many points I was a bit disappointed at how rough the details were made...it was like seeing a large installation work of a respectfulartost in a gallery, but noticing execution flaws here and there.

It would not have been shown in hk cinemas or received that many awards, if it were a film by a new film maker.

It's experimental but I can hardly describe it as a good film. I'd not recommend t to friends. Sorry.

"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.