Tales of Kish

Three short tales set on the island of Kish. Taghvaï's 'The Greek Ship' tells how the lives of a shopkeeper and his wife are transformed by crates swept onshore from a wrecked cargo ship; Jalili's 'The Ring' concerns a student paying his way by working in a shack in the middle of nowhere; Makhmalbaf's 'The Door' (which intriguingly echoes Polanski's Two Men and a Wardrobe while anticipating Makhmalbaf's script for his daughter Samira's later Blackboards) concerns a postman trying to deliver a letter to a man who wanders the desert carrying a door on his back. All the episodes are visually stunning, making magnificent use of colour and landscape; all are at once fairytale-like in their simplicity, yet somewhat oblique as to their precise meaning; and all are perfectly paced and structured as shorts, never outstaying their welcome.