> I went through most of the IMDB top 250 over a period of a couple of > months - 3 movies a day on average. I must say it got depressing since > the movies that tend to get selected for artistic excellence are often > very sad and unhappy. > > OTOH, try anything once. > > Cheeni
Your sentiment is true to some extent. Kiarostami has a movie wholly about a man driving and picking up strangers and then asking them to bury him after he commits suicide. However, the conversations are excellent. I've watched quite a few Iranian flicks and so far haven't come across any that are "happy" or if happy at the outset, don't have a happy ending :) Some of the more artistic ones are downright confusing. The Taste of Pomegranates being an example. Though highly praised for its artistic values, I couldn't figure out the head or tail of it. Same with one of Cocteau's forays into cinema - The Blood of a Poet. Both are so mired in symbolism that it ends up being puzzling, but then maybe I just don't get it. On the other hand, 2001 A Space Odyssey is also quite artistic, but its is also very engaging and recieved mainstream success. However, there have been many mainstream movies which have featured on these lists, Godfather trilogy being an example. Now its definitely not "happy", but it is engaging in a way mainstream movies are. But to a great extent movies are like books, there are those you enjoy reading, and might even reread, but have no influence on you. And then there are those, which you enjoy but they also leave a mark on you and make you think differently. But there are also like Ulysses which are praised, but nobody really reads. Kiran
