Where Is the Friend's House? (1987)

 Abbas Kiarostami's "Where Is the Friend's House?"


While watching Abbas Kiarostami's 1987 film "Where Is the Friend's House," I felt myself inextricably transfixed to the story of a young boy looking for his friend's house. The plot of the film is relatively simple, and yet the mundanity of an everyday-type problem unravels into a more complex observation of Iran life. 

The film centers on a young 8-year-old boy named Ahman, who goes to school with Reza, a friend of his. After watching his teacher chastise Reza for not writing down his assignment in his notebook, Ahman accidentally grabs Reza's notebook by mistake and takes it home with him. Adman pleads with his family to let him leave to return the notebook, but they are critical of him and tell him to do his homework and chores instead. Ahman leaves and spends the rest of the film frantically searching for Reza's house in the next village over.

Like I said, the plot is relatively simple. And yet, I felt the same sense of frustration and panic over returning the notebook that Ahman felt. The adults in his life and incredibly critical and harsh towards him, even completely dismissive all together. If Ahman doesn't return this notebook back to Reza, Reza will get suspended at the fault of Ahman. The valiant effort to transverse the countryside and neighboring village takes our audience on a journey of modern Iranian small-town life, along with the happenstance opinions about modernity through the eyes of the inhabitants. 

I was completely floored by this film. There is so much complex observations about the daily life of Iranian culture found within the confines of the story and Kiarostami's wrapping of this subtle narrative around the diligent and frantic search by this young boy is an incredibly creative way to distill ideas. I was completely on board with this boy's journey, along with his frustrations, fears, and anxious searching for his friend. 



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