Djomeh

Another subtle, resonant, utterly engrossing Iranian film. A young Afghani working on a dairy farm tries to overcome the wariness of the local villagers and, more significantly, the grocer's daughter he forlornly woos. Again, it's a quest story, but one whose exact import is often oblique (the 'message' is nicely understated) and whose tone is less sentimental or earnest than a wry blend of compassion and irony. Add to that its lovely, lucid, off-kilter imagery, and it sometimes echoes Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us - on which Yektapanah worked as assistant.