Like Someone in Love

Appearances prove continually deceptive in Abbas Kiarostami's second fictional feature outside his native Iran. And again, as with Certified Copy, an unconventional relationship comes under scrutiny, this time between a 20-something student (Rin Takanashi), who pays her tuition fees by escorting for a Tokyo pimp (Denden), and an ageing sociology professor (Tadashi Okuno), who is more interested in her as a companion than a lover. However, the situation becomes more complicated as her boyfriend (Ryo Kase) starts to realise that the doting old man isn't Takanashi's grandfather. Adding irony to the situation is the fact that Takanashi keeps ignoring phone messages from her actual grandmother. This sly allusion to 1953's Tokyo Story is one of many homages to the master of long-take contemplative cinema, Yasujiro Ozu. Katsumi Yanagijima's camera certainly lingers, but it is forever observant and the tiny details it lights upon are deftly counterpointed by Reza Narimizadeh's atmospheric sound design. The tale is inconsequential and the dénouement melodramatic, but as an exercise in conveying place, mood and human foible, this is consistently intriguing.