24 Frames

"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.

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 !

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.

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.

I can't review this like a typical movie, because it's not a typical movie. This is an experimental art film, so there are two questions; Does this movie achieve what it set out to do? and How did it affect me?

I do believe it achieved what it wanted to, It's beautiful and an interesting idea (seeing what could happen before and after a photograph).

It mostly kept my interest due to the beauty of the shots and what the subjects are doing within the shot. This is definitely a great background movie to have on at a casual party similar to a music streaming channel.

The only failings come with some the the effects, certain things feel and look worse than others.

I would recommend it if you want to see something calming and are interested in the premise. It's a decent watch.