Long before he became one of the most renowned artists in world cinema, the great Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami began his cinematic career at Tehran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (a.k.a. Kanoon), where he honed his distinctive style and themes. During his first decades as a filmmaker, Kiarostami moved freely among documentary, narrative, and even animation, and between joyous short films made for children and subtle works exploring the struggles of adolescents. Often using the classroom as a laboratory, he probed social and political tensions in Iranian society during the turbulent years before and after the 1979 revolution. Spanning his very first short, Bread and Alley (which the director called the “mother of all my films”); other underseen early revelations, like Experience and The Traveler; and nonfiction masterpieces such as Homework, the graceful, warm, and playful works collected here find moments of transcendent poetry within everyday life, and use deceptively simple premises to express universal truths about the human condition.

Films included in this set are as follows: Bread and Alley, Breaktime, Experience, The Traveler, Two Solutions for One Problem, So Can I, Colors, A Wedding Suit, Tribute to Teachers, Solution No. 1, First Case Second Case, Toothache, Orderly or Disorderly, The Chorus, Fellow Citizen, First Graders, and Homework.

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Video Quality

Abbas Kiarostami—Early Shorts and Features comes to Blu-Ray with new digital AVC encoded 1080p restorations for all 17 films on three discs. All of these films appear to have been given 2K restorations undertaken by MK2 in collaboration with L’Immagine Ritrovata, and they provide a largely marvelous viewing experience that fans are sure to appreciate. Given the relative brevity of many of the films, these works fit comfortably beside one another with no signs of compression artifacts or other unwanted digital anomalies. While a handful of titles are somewhat rougher in quality compared to others, the consistency throughout the set is commendable, especially given the lack of care often given to short films. The presentations are as close to ideal as you could wish for, as the new scans look quite terrific throughout each film. There are only fleeting instances of print damage, such as stray lines and specks, and overall clarity and detail are magnificent.

Kiarostami is a master visual storyteller, often eschewing straightforward hand-holding in favor of allowing the audience to observe the subtle turns of the story. The way in which he captures his environments is impactful and presented better than ever here. The films that are in color are rich and confidently saturated in a visually mesmerizing manner. The black-and-white photography of the early features commands the contrast perfectly. Black levels hold up well with nearly nothing in the way of crush. Highlights are likewise quite controlled. Skin tones are natural and consistent with subtle facial features easily noticeable in close-up. The transfer allows for some rich texture to shine through from the costumes and production design. This new collection is top-tier quality from beginning to end and should please any fan of the filmmaker.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray set comes with a remastered LPCM 1.0 mono track for each of these films in the original Persian with optional English subtitles. There do not seem to be any egregious instances of age-related wear and tear. The dialogue and narration come through clearly for the most part with no serious signs of distortion, sibilance, or other weak elements. The music utilized within each feature sounds great throughout the set with decent fidelity. There is rarely a moment when it threatens to overshadow any competing information. Environmental sounds such as animal noises or murmuring from classmates are rendered well alongside everything else. The Criterion Collection has given this collection the authentically preserved audio presentation it deserves.

Special Features

The Criterion Blu-Ray of Abbas Kiarostami—Early Shorts and Features includes a substantial booklet featuring the essay “Poetic Solutions to Philosophical Problems” by filmmaker and author Ehsan Khoshbakht in which he delves into the career of Abbas Kiarostami, individual thematic breakdowns of many of the films, and much more that is very illuminating. There are no on-disc special features.

Final Thoughts

Abbas Kiarostami—Early Shorts and Features is an invaluable set appropriate for both adult cinephiles and younger audiences who might be curious about films from other parts of the world. The legendary filmmaker has created some of the most important and impactful Iranian cinema of all time, and this collection includes a lot of his foundational work that was created for a younger audience in mind. Nevertheless, older audiences will still feel the impact of these stories both short and feature-length. Not only are the films visually sumptuous, but the themes being explored resonate across cultures and generations. The Eclipse line is back, and there is no greater gift than this to film-lovers. The Criterion Collection has released a Blu-Ray set that features the films with a beautiful A/V presentation. Essential

Abbas Kiarostami—Early Shorts and Features is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: The Criterion Collection has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.