Tennessee's Partner

Undeniably a minor addition to the Kiarostami canon, this mix of master class for young film-makers, DVD extra for 10, and meditation on the state of contemporary cinema finds him driving around the mountain roads we saw in Taste of Cherry while discussing, in ten chapters, both general topics (location, script, music, actors, sound) and more specific details about his work as a whole. Yes, it's talky and one wonders how Kiarostami managed to deliver word-perfect lessons at such unedited length while steering his car along these bumpy tracks, but the talk is intelligent, occasionally interrupted by some telling (and slyly self-deprecating) clips and, in the final chapter, remarkably invigorating in terms of its range, points of reference, acuity and quiet wisdom.