Reviews & Ratings for
Homework More at IMDbPro »Mashgh-e Shab (original title)

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Another fine example of Kiarostami's simplicity, 3 February 2005
Author: GregSinora

In 'Homework' Kiarostami, interviews children on their personal opinions to homework. It is a great documentary, funny, sweet, and so easy to watch. Kiarostami literally films the children and interviews them and that's it, but by doing this he captures the children in such a great way that you wonder that Truffaut, is not directing the kids from off camera! The children brim with the kind of charisma that we'd forgot children could do in a film let alone in real life, and seems to seek to remind us what being a child was all about. 'Homework' whilst being a fine film in it's own right also seems to serve as an important precursor for Nicolas Philibert's 2002 documentary on rural school life 'Être et avoir', and provokes the same positive feeling as that film and also of Truffaut's 'L'agent Poche'.

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Cartoons or Homework? An eternal struggle..., 23 April 2001

Author: HisGirlFriday from Los Angeles

Kiarostami exposes some of the hardships of being a young student in Iran. With a few simple shots and a few basic questions, he manages to sketch out both the problems and the joys of childhood.

Kiarostami (playing himself, or simply "playing director") sets up his camera for a few days in a grade school in order to find out about children and their attitudes and struggles with homework. Kids of every personality (from hyper to shy, bragging to quiet) all felt the need to lie about the importance of homework in their life. We laugh each time a young interviewee tells a small fib and says they prefer the difficulty of their homework to watching cartoons after school. But often the truth of the matter is they reason they struggle with their homework is because both parents might be illiterate, or older brothers and sisters provide little support as well. Homework often takes a back seat to the reality of life for these children who are torn between the obligations of being a child and the obligations of being an active member of a family struggling to make ends meet.

An excellent little film - hard-going for the the impatient moviegoer who might need EVERYTHING spelled out for him/her, but for the rest of us, it's a joy to pull out the many meanings and truths embedded in this film.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Children tell it best., 17 October 2002
Author: Pik Botha from England

A nice little documentary about parenting in Iran, from the child's point of view, in as much as it presents the parents attitudes to their children reguarding education. And the children infront of the camera say more than any adult could, as is always the way. Unfortunatly the director spends a little too much time explaining himself at the begining, talking about what kind of film he might or might not make in a slightly pretentious way. And the continual cutting from child to camera man (the director himself, looking directorly) doesn't quite work. But when the children are left to just get on with it the film flows along nicely. A useful insight into Iran, a country that, despite the recent wave of movies, remains shamefully unknown to the average European or American.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Worth persevering with, 23 December 2009

Author: mikehop1 from Australia

I've only recently discovered Kiarostami. In the last few weeks I've watched "The Wind will Carry Us", "Under the Olive Trees" and now "Homework". Yes, they are slow. No they are not action packed, exciting or epic. But in each case, I'm glad I persevered. "Homework" is probably the slowest of the three I've seen, and I have to admit I did consider giving up after half an hour or so. But when it finished, I was very glad I'd watched it. The conclusion is very moving, but has to be seen in the context of the whole film, so don't just jump to the end.

What his films show you is that Iranian people are very much like you and me. Each has his or her own problems and concerns. Kiarostami finds beauty and intensity in what appear to be mundane situations. He has a great eye for simple situations which have wider implications. A great director.

2 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Tea At Tony's, 3 May 2007

Author: Theo Robertson from Isle Of Bute, Scotland

I had the great privilege of being invited with several other students to sample " herbal tea " and documentaries at the home of a university film tutor who we shall call Tony . Ah yes " herbal tea " and I'm educated enough to know what a euphemism is . Tony was a perfect host and as we waited for the herbal tea to brew we stood admiring his book collection . Every book on philosophy was on view as was every book written by every film critic . Tony returned to the living room carrying a tray containing herbal tea and cake to which we helped ourselves . We discussed amid much chin rubbing what documentary we should watch . I was too interested in the herbal tea to take part in the ballot but the students took a vote and it was decided we would watch Abbas Kiarostami's HOMEWORK and I sat back on the sofa waiting for the herbal tea to take effect . Unfortunately I quickly realised two things . Firstly that the "herbal tea " was herbal tea and not cannabis leaves and secondly that HOMEWORK was going to be a rather boring documentary

The documentary gets off to what might be classed as a vaguely interesting start has lines of Persian boys aged about 7 or 8 years old shouting " DOWN WITH SADDAM " which gives you a clue what period it was filmed . It goes down downhill from here though due to Kiarostami insisting on filming the documentary via talking head interviews . Hence we see a male child being asked " Do you do your homework ? " or " Who helps you with your homework ? " or " do you get beaten if you don't do your homework " or " Do you watch cartoons " . This goes on and on ad nuseuem and quickly becomes tedious . It also begs the question as to what the audience are actually learning via these interviews . Is it even revealed what the cartoons are ?

There are some interesting comments such as when a child says his father captured a couple of Iraqi sailors , chopped their heads off and threw their bodies into the sea ( Compare this how Iran presently treats captured sailors ) , the wailing child who hopefully hasn't found courage in the interceding years and is now employed as head of the Iranian army and the father who rambles on and on only stopping to say " Would you like to ask me a question ? " . There's one other interesting point and that is the amount of children who want to become engineers and you can't help wondering if they went on to build a nuclear power plant

But this is a fairly uninteresting and dare I say pointless documentary and I don't want to say anything more positive about it as you may feel as disappointed by it as I was disappointed by Tony's herbal tea . I'll certainly be taking advantage of my host's hospitality in the near future but I doubt if I'll be going out of my way to watch anymore Abbas Kiarostami documentaries

Add another review

Related Links