At Five in the Afternoon (Samira Makhmalbaf, 2003)

A remarkable film, apparently the first filmed in Afghanistan after the U.S./NATO invasion, told with restraint and plenty of ellipsis, but without ever becoming willfully elusive or tricksy. On the contrary, most of the film exhibits a refreshing clarity. The way its themes - life and death; the relationship between everyday life, institutions, and aspirations - lie on the surface contributes to its richness and directness instead of making it preachy. (Although things do become a little more ambiguous at the end; we seem even, perhaps, to be offered a horse's memory of another horse's death. The film gently dissolves and slips away, both from the audience and from itself, just as its characters vanish over a hill in search of water, never to be seen again.) Much of the film is a series of portraits, facilitating a striking performance style in which naturally expressive faces and ever-so-slightly stiff performances give rise to a great dignity, something the film as a whole also maintains throughout.