The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)

The critic calls the film utterly brilliant, praising its humanism and its tribute to the Kurdish people. They also single out its challenge to intellectual torpor and its preference for everyday observation over conventional narrative.

Peranson calls the film probably a masterpiece and Kiarostami’s finest work since Close-Up. He praises its depth, exacting visual composition, and indelible images.

Scott praises the film as funny, accessible, and visually arresting, and recommends seeing it in a theater. He singles out Kiarostami’s vivid landscapes and immersive, poetic sense of time.

The critic calls it a subtle, richly rewarding work of genius. The review singles out its deceptively simple approach and opens by noting a long shot of a car crossing a dusty landscape.

Phipps finds the film consistently comic, challenging, and deeply rewarding. He especially praises Kiarostami’s use of nature and the film’s late action that reframes what came before.

Cronk presents the film as a defining, career-summing work by Kiarostami. He praises its careful visual form and the Criterion restoration’s vivid image and richly detailed sound, while noting the loss of extras from the prior release.

French presents the film as masterly and lucid, with a mysterious, disturbingly comic tone. He singles out its unsettling relationship between sophisticated strangers and the inhabitants of a remote village.

The review finds the film compassionate, amusing and moving. It praises the ambiguous protagonist, off-screen events that invite viewers to fill in gaps, and landscape photography.

Young finds the film a subtle, demanding meditation on life and death, likely to please Kiarostami’s international audience. She particularly praises how the film’s offscreen figures and events draw viewers into filling its deliberate gaps.

The critic is largely unimpressed by the film’s opaque, repetitive story, though he notes its humane conclusion. He praises the beauty of the village and surrounding countryside.