Landscape as mise-en-scène was to become the distinctive trademark of Abuladze's art in more formal, allegorical films like Molba or The Wishing Tree. Here, it lends itself to a lyric pastorale full of the grotesque comedy of village life, which seems to thrive on curses and prayers, frankness and straight-faced humor. "You're the first ignoramus in our family," Grandmother tells Zuriko, the "I" of the film's title, a youth given to ditching school in favor of afternoons with his uncle Illarion, "God of the Hunt," who shoots hare and usually misses. Zuriko, Grandmother, Illarion and their kindly, spindly old friend Illiko, are at once vital and intensely human characters and figures on an artist's canvas, standing on the barren dirt road that leads from the village to everywhere else. Much of this stunning film is shot outdoors-much of it, on that road-but there is equally a feeling of open composition in the indoor shots. Abuladze accompanies his characters through the seasons, through the war and then the peace; and Zuriko "despite snow, wind and a collapsing world," is happy. There are many fine moments in the episodic narrative, among them the village send-off to its soldiers of all ages, a brass band playing to fill in this pregnant pause in the life of the town; Illiko's revelation that Illarion's son has been killed, and his decision not to tell him; Illarion's glass eye, and the proud insecurity it engenders; Illiko's confession of love for Illarion.