Shirin

(95 minutes) A vibrant, daringly original work from Abbas Kiarostami, SHIRIN is the flowering of an experimentalist streak that’s been evident in many of the director’s most well-known features, including CLOSE-UP, TASTE OF CHERRY and others. Ostensibly an adaptation of a 12th century Persian poem about a young princess courted by two men, a nobleman and an artist, Kiarostami never shows us the film in question. Instead, we are compelled to reconstruct the narrative from dialogue and sound, and the emotions that flash across the faces of a rapt, mostly female audience. A movie about a movie we never see, SHIRIN makes us active participants in a unique cinematic experience.