Abbas Kiarostami gets back to basics in a Honda.

From celebrated Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, the decision to shoot his latest film on digital video using only one set-up (the inside of a car) might have seemed a little, well, masochistic. This, after all, is a man whose trademark was his stunning cinematic use of his country’s austere landscape. Why would he want to limit himself by shooting on tape from the inside of a Honda? The result, however, speaks for itself. It’s a compelling human drama given an intimate, almost confessional tone by the informal methods he’s employed.

The driver of the car is an elegant and articulate woman, clearly wealthy and, we learn, divorced from her first husband. We accompany her on 10 journeys as she gives lifts to friends and strangers and, on several highly charged occasions, picks up her resentful son. Primarily about the lives of women in Tehran, it’s humane and intelligent, providing a refreshing counterpoint to the current “us and them” partitions between the West and the Arab world. WI 26 September 02

Ten, at selected cinemas 27 September 02.