Review of Like Someone in Love (2012) by Tyler R — 11 Apr 2013

What a strange movie this is. Written and directed Abbas Kiarostami is a film that is an exercise for the mind. It all starts with a girl named Akiko sitting in a nightclub we don't know a lot at this point but then we find out that she's a call girl when she's dispatched to a new client in the suburbs.

This man turns out to be a shy elderly man named Takeshi who as we see in a long tracking shot was a sociology professor and now he writes and translates books for a living. He doesn't want to have sex with the girl he wants to have someone to talk to for the night but she falls asleep right in the middle of the evening and he drives her home in the morning.

But then through a case of mistaken identity by her abusive boyfriend. The old man is now assumed to be the young lady's grandfather that sets in effect a chain of events that well place the man as the girl's protector as we see him ignore business calls and starts relying his schedule around helping his new friend.

The ending is what most people would call the non ending but I think that it ends perfectly and this is one of the best movies of the year so far.