Taste of Cherry Blu-ray - Homayoun Ershadi

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Taste of Cherry" or "Le Goût de la cerise" or "Ta'm e guilass")

directed by Abbas Kiarostami
Iran 1997

There's no getting around the fact that the movies of Abbas Kiarostami divide audiences--in this country, in his native Iran, and everywhere else they're shown. Even in France, where his work has probably been celebrated longer than anywhere else, a couple of his earlier features reportedly flopped, though subsequent ones gained a passionate following--a pattern that resembles my own mixed reaction when I first encountered his work about five years ago at the Toronto film festival. I can no longer recall which film of his I saw first, but one that I now regard as profound and mysterious, "Where Is My Friend's House?", initially struck me as bland and pedestrian, a comedy about schoolchildren that seemed to be aiming for the charm of minor Truffaut--cute at best. And it wasn't until a few days after I saw "Life and Nothing More" that the full richness of it began to settle in. Lately I've come to realize that what I regard as the most wondrous thing to happen in cinema in many years, Kiarostami's movies, strikes a few friends and colleagues as boring and empty, even predictable--enough of them to make me realize that recognition of Kiarostami's greatness can't be taken for granted, even though his "Taste of Cherry" shared the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year. And some colleagues who share my reverence for "Taste of Cherry" part company with me over its startling final sequence--which they see as a blemish on an otherwise masterful work and I see as the element that makes it a masterpiece.

Excerpt from review by Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader located HERE

***

The first Iranian film to win the Palme d’Or, this austere, emotionally complex drama by the great Abbas Kiarostami follows the middle-aged Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi) as he drives around the hilly outskirts of Tehran looking for someone who will agree to dispose of his body after he commits suicide, a taboo under Islam. Extended conversations with three passengers (a soldier, a seminarian, and a taxidermist) elicit different views of mortality and individual choice. Operating at once as a closely observed, realistic story and a fable populated by archetypal figures, Taste of Cherry challenges the viewer to consider what often goes unexamined in everyday life.

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 16th, 1997 - Cannes Film Festival

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Comparison:

Artificial Eye - Region 2 - PAL vs. Criterion - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Criterion - Region 'A' / 'B' - Blu-ray

Box Cover			Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Artificial Eye Region 2 - PAL	Criterion Spine #45 Region 0 - NTSC	Criterion Spine #45 - Region 'A' / 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:35:12 (4% PAL speedup)	1:39:20	1:39:34.551
Video	1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 8.56 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.40 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,148,318,215 bytes Feature: 30,171,899,904 bytes Video Bitrate: 36.26 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Artificial Eye
Bitrate: Criterion DVD
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	2.0 Dolby Digital Farsi	2.0 Dolby Digital Farsi Mono	LPCM Audio Persian 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles	English, None	English, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.66:1 Edition Details: • Trailer (0:49 / 4:3) • Abbas Kiarostami biography • 10 on Ten (1:23:20 / 4:3) DVD Release Date: May 23, 2005 Double Amarey Chapters 11	Release Information: Studio: Criterion Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterboxed - 1.66:1 Edition Details: • 3 page folded insert with liner notes by Godfrey Cheshire • Rare interview with Abbas Kiarostami by Iranian film scholar Dr. Jamsheed Akrami (18:40 / 4:3) • Trailer (1:16 / 4:3) • Filmography DVD Release Date: June 8, 1999 Amarey Chapters 14	Release Information: Studio: Criterion 1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 46,148,318,215 bytes Feature: 30,171,899,904 bytes Video Bitrate: 36.26 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Project, Abbas Kiarostami’s 39-minute 1997 sketch film for Taste of Cherry, made with the director’s son Bahman Kiarostami (38:57) • New interview with Iranian film scholar Hamid Naficy (16:57) • Rare 1997 interview with Abbas Kiarostami, conducted by Iranian film scholar Jamsheed Akrami (18:39) • Kiarostami's Landscapes (7:09) • Trailer (1:18) PLUS: An essay by critic A. S. Hamrah Blu-ray Release Date: July 21st, 2020 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 14

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (June 2020): Criterion have transferred Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "New 4K digital restoration" and is quite a step-up from their own 1999 non-anamorphic DVD. We can see some noticeable blue/teal-leaning but otherwise this is a massive upgrade from the previous SD editions. It is sharper, crisper, tighter with a sliver more information in the frame. It looks wonderful on my system. I've never seen the film look this good - it was like viewing it for the first time.

NOTE: We have added 19 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original Farsi (Persian) language. It has only naturalistic sound - with no score but has some music; St. James Infirmary performed by Louis Armstrong (end credits) and Khuda Bowad Yaret performed by Ahmad Zaher. It sounds very consistent with clear dialogue. Criterion offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' / 'B' Blu-ray depending on your geographic region.

Criterion add many new extras on their Blu-ray. They also add the 1997 18-minute interview with director Abbas Kiarostami conducted by film scholar Jamsheed Akrami that is on the 2005 Artificial Eye DVD. New is "Project". Kiarostami often made short "sketch" films while conceptualizing his features, included here is the 39-minute 1997 sketch film for Taste of Cherry, made with the director’s son Bahman Kiarostami, who acts out some of the parts, while he considers the film's structure and dialogue, and plans some shots. In a new 17-minute interview, shot by the Criterion Collection in 2019, film scholar Hamid Naficy, author of the four-volume study A Social History of Iranian Cinema, discusses Taste of Cherry. Kiarostami's Landscapes was a 7-minute 2017 episode of the Criterion Channel's Observations on Film Art where scholar Kristin Thompson discusses the importance of landscape in the films of Abbas Kiarostami. There is also a trailer and the package has liner notes with an essay by critic A. S. Hamrah.

Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry is nothing if not extremely thought-provoking. It will have different meaning for different people. A "Plato's Cave" of cinema. It's hard to deny the simplistic brilliance. I am thrilled to have it on Criterion Blu-ray. A very strong recommendation!

Gary Tooze

ON THE DVDs (2005): Taking from the Mk2 source, the Artificial Eye transfer is simply superb. Presented in original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, it displays a great color balance and good details. Some scenes do show halos and edge enhancements, but in general artifacts are very limited.

The Criterion transfer has a different color palette thru a warm brown / orange filter, which appears to have been removed from the Mk2 source, and has been slightly boosted in contrast. While the Criterion image also has the AR of 1.66, it is cropped approx 7px right (1%), approx 17px bottom (2,4%) and 5px top (0,7%).

However for a non-anamorphic DVD5 image, the Criterion image is surprisingly good. While the Mk2 / Artificial Eye is lesser "grainy", displays better details (the Criterion is very pixelated), there is a minimum of edge enhancements.

Criterion has a great interview with Kiarostami, where he talks about censorship, how his films were received in the west and about his style. Artificial Eye has instead the masterclass documentary "10 on Ten", where Kiarostami talks of filmmaking (In Farsi with English voice-over translation.)

- Henrik Sylow