Where Is the Friend's House?

1987. A boy's quest—to deliver a schoolbook to a classmate who will be punished if it doesn't reach him—turns into a journey of determination and resilience, as the road to the neighboring village is filled with obstacles. This deceptively simple tale is given suspense through Kiarostami's lyrical sense of single-minded purity. Both repetition and the tension between real time and ellipsis are used to great effect, imbuing the film with lasting visual power. 87 min.