Abbas Kiarostami's semi-quasi-pseudo-documentary sequel to his Where Is the Friend's House?, an all-day quest for the all-day quester of that earlier film (an equally Kafka-esque quest in its failure to satisfy our natural curiosity as to the outcome), in the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake in the area. Complexities and ambiguities litter the road. The unnamed man behind the steering wheel is ostensibly Kiarostami, concerned about the welfare of the lead actor in his previous film, but he himself is being played by an actor, and he is travelling not with a film crew but with only his young son, roughly the same age as the boy he is seeking. (Does Kiarostami in fact have a son? Is this him?) The devastation around them is palpably real, though the film contains no internal evidence that its action takes place, as purported, within a week of the quake. And the camerawork and staging are as free and flexible (i.e., as controlled and rigorous) as in any Kiarostami film. Further light on the interplay of illusion and reality herein is shed in yet another sequel, Through the Olive Trees, a behind-the-scenes reconstruction of the filming of And Life Goes On -- with a new actor in the Kiarostami role. (1992) — Duncan Shepherd