Homayoun Ershadi
In the dusty, barren hills outside Tehran, a middle-aged man named Mr. Badii (Ershadi) drives slowly along a snaking road, stopping occasionally to see if he can find a stranger willing to perform a strange task. Having already dug himself an open grave—the spot is recognizable by a small, brown-leafed tree—Mr. Badii intends to lie down in the earth that night and swallow a lethal dose of tranquilizers. He wants someone to come in the morning, make sure he is dead, then bury him. The lingering power of Cherry—written and directed by Abbas Kiarostami, who with this film became the first Iranian director to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes—lies in the almost folktale simplicity of Mr. Badii's quest across the course of one final day's creeping but unstoppable passage. Even the most commonplace images—birds in the sky, clouds across the moon—become poignantly fleeting. (Not rated)
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