40 days, now that is a surprise, well it shows he was a perfectionist, and even with a short, determined to leave a mark. I prefer Bread and Alley of the 2. There are some similarities between Bread and Alley and the feature The White Balloon (e.g obstacles on a child’s journey, a frightening creature), which he scripted for Panahi..and he remained interested in children in later films, with Where is the Friend’s Home? and documentaries like Homework.
Bread and Alley already has the retraced steps that occur regularly in his films. In Five, we should all have expected the ducks to come back along the beach in the opposite direction!
I think it’s because Kiarostami made these short films for the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults. I believe I read somewhere that they invited him to establish their film division, which is why the subject of children is prominent in his early work. Like Kenji said, it carries through to his debut feature Where is the Friend’s Home?, the first instalment of his Koker trilogy. I love Bread and Alley! Two Solutions for One Problem I found endearing as well. For me it’s one of the more overt comedic works by Kiarostami.
In any case, I’m very fond of the way he’s able to direct children in his shorts and features, although I guess he’s since deviated from that a bit. I think that’s the reason why Where is the Friend’s Home? remains my favourite by him. It’s seemingly simple and Ahmed (Babek Ahmed Poor) is just so lovable in it.
I had seen Bread and Alley a while back but just watched The Breaktime a minute ago. I though it was pretty great. Towards the end it was losing me because it was feeling like a typical man vs. environment tale. I love the way the final moments transition from an almost cliched Watership Down type view of the cars on the road as angry obstacles for or heros path, into a more intelligent view of the hero walking against the flow of traffic and almost being one with his obstacles. Excellent stuff. I can’t wait for Certified Copy.
Jon K
Yesterday I watched a couple of Kiarostami’s early shorts which are available on youtube, ‘The Bread and the alley’ and ‘The Breaktime’. I wasn’t sure what to make of them.
I was wondering if anyone here had any thoughts on the purpose/meaning of the films?
According to this interview (http://www.synoptique.ca/core/en/articles/kiarostami_interview) they took 40 days (!) to complete one shot on the bread and the alley so obviously it must have been important to Kiarostami. Thanks.