121. Beautiful Day &...

Lyrics

The heart is a bloom
Shoots up through the stony ground
There's no room
No space to rent in this town

You're out of luck
And the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck
And you're not moving anywhere

You thought you'd found a friend
To take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand
In return for grace

It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

You're on the road
But you've got no destination
You're in the mud
In the maze of her imagination

You're lovin' this town
Even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over
And it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
Beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Reach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case

What you don't have you don't need it now
What you don't know you can feel it somehow
What you don't have you don't need it now
Don't need it now
Was a beautiful day

The most annoying thing about U2 may be that their best music is informed by Bono's pretensions/white savior complex. This song is nearly completely devoid of that, and it's awful, It's also quite amazing they made this song in 2000, when U2 was a long established institution. It feels like the work of some mediocre up and coming band that has yet to find its own sound and vision. Even the accompanying clip is bland and ugly as hell.  Luckily Bono cannot help but add some seemingly meaningful lyrics signifying nothing but his awareness that there is some stuff happening in Asia, possibly Iran. After all, China is in front of it, and it has oil fields. So I linked the song to a movie about driving around Iran. 

The Movie: Taste of Cherry (Ta'm e guilass) (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)

Taste of Cherry won the Golden Palm in 1997. The Cannes jury that year was presided by French actress Isabelle Adjani, but Kiarostami may have profited most from Mike Leigh's presence. Leigh is of course famous for not really writing screenplays but, coming up with a broad outline/idea and fleshing it out with his actors while making the film. After seeing Taste of Cherry I wasn't surprised to learn Kiarostami works in a very similar way. I think Leigh is more successful; his approach does produce coherent, engaging stories. Kiarostami's does not (at least not here, I have not seen his other films), and many critics, most famously Roger Ebert, took issue with all the praise this film has gotten. In Cannes Taste of Cherry competed with, among others, L.A. Confidential and The Sweet Hereafter, two films that are unquestionably better than it. Nevertheless I think there is a lot of value to be found in this film, an I do not think it's at all bad.

It's nice to see a film about an existentially depressed Iranian. We are getting more and more nuanced portrayals of the Middle East. Hollywood is slowly learning to present the region in less stereotypical way, and more importantly films made in the region are increasingly reaching the west. Even so, most of the characters we meet in these films are entirely presented in the context of the turmoil in the region, or even defined by it. Moreover, the characters/plots are often used to teach us something about the historical, religious and/or political complexities in the region, and to make us understand these societies better. This approach certainly can produce some great films, look at Marjane Satrapi, but it doesn't always allow room for much individuality. Watching Taste of Cherry, you will not learn anything very significant about Iran. It's merely about Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi) battling his own personal demons. He is depressed and wants to commit suicide. He has already dug a grave, and now he is looking for someone to bury him. I would have preferred if Mr. Badii was provided with even a little bit of a backstory, but I can see why Kiarostami decided not to do this. Mr. Badii is now free from any burden of representation.

I also wish the film was more dynamic. This is very much a slow art film. It mostly consists of Mr. Badii driving around a large construction site in Teheran, and having philosophical conversations with the people he picks up. It reminded me to some extent of Richard Linklater's Slacker, but there the conversations were both 'deeper' and more playful. Mr. Badii's co-passengers try to dissuade him from suicide and sometimes do so with rather cliche arguments. 'Won't you miss the taste of cherries'? I did find it interesting that none of the people he meets are ethnic Iranians. The first is a Kurd, the second is from Afghanistan, and the third is from Turkey. Moreover I really liked the way this film is shot. For example, when we follow the conversations in the car, we hardly ever see passengers in the same shot, The camera always focuses on one side of the car, showing us not only the person inside, but also the outer world the car is passing. As the car is driving around a construction site, we are constantly aware of people moving around, trucks delivering goods, work being done, etc. This allows for some really wonderful, fantastically choreographed, shots. It's also an effective way to visualize Mr. Badii's issues. Mr. Badii is stuck in a monotonous loop, while outside life goes on. Lastly, I don't know why Kiarostami choose to end this film the way he did and I think any interpretation of it is irrelevant and would give Kiarostami too much credit. Nevertheless it was my favorite part of the film, and I found it oddly moving.