What the fuck happens in this film? Nothing. This is a formal experiment based on the notion that you might stare at a painting or a photograph for five minutes, imagining the world inside it. That’s what Kiarostami does in these 24 short pieces, which are like photos that happen to be moving. The first piece is a painting by Pieter Bruegel which becomes animated by certain moving elements: smoke, birds, dogs. The other pieces are photography, many in black and white, that feature nature and animals. It’s often snowing or raining, and there are many birds and cows. Frame 15, one of the few with people in it, combines a still image of people’s backs as they stare from a bridge at the Eiffel Tower and pedestrians pass between them and the camera. Most pieces are marked by meticulous natural sound design, though a few feature songs like Maria Callas‘ rendition of „Un bel di vedremo“ and Janet Baker singing Gounod’s „Ave Maria“. The most complex piece is the final one. As we hear Andrew Lloyd Webber’s „Love Never Dies“, we see misty winter trees outside a window while, in the bottom foreground, a boy or girl sleeps at a desk and a laptop shows a slow-motion kiss from William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).“ Many meanings can be read into this rich arrangement. 24 Frames will be released as DVD/BLURAY by Criterion on February 4.
(Michael Barrett, popmatters)