Since this is my second film review/recommendation, I thought it'd be a good idea to have a group name for these type of posts. I hope to be doing these fairly often, whenever I watch something that is out of this world good - maybe I should do ones about films I don't like? Comment your thoughts about that below to let me know!
So.. TAXI TEHERAN - an Iranian film by an Iranian director (Jafar Panahi) filmed 'undercover' whilst the director himself was driving a taxi around Teheran. Some may say that you can't technically call Panahi the director of this film because there are no credits, but any two eyes can see that he is clearly the one doing the directing. An interesting perspective - by this I mean camera shots that Panahi often turns himself , maybe to make the whole project look my authentic, more lifelike (although I don't think it can get anymore realistic than this), this is a masterpiece like none I've seen. It's a world away from the classic artistic films I maybe a sucker for, but this is innovative.. and well, DARING! Knowing that Panahi has had major problems with the government in the past, problems that resulted in him being house bound, later country bound, filming this was a risk, one that requires courage. This situation is still the case to this day. He is forbidden to film in any way or form, nevertheless, here I am reviewing a substantial work in his cinematography.
To sum the film up in the simplest way possible I would say that it's a politically packed work of genius. Surprisingly funny, diverse in its plot - there are accidents, old ladies with fish, black market foreign film selling, and even Panahi's niece stars in it along side him, adding a note innocence that I found refreshing.
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| some snapshots from the film |
A Golden Bear at the 65th Berlin Film Festival is well deserved... Watch the trailer and comment your first impressions. If you can, do go to the cinema and see it - it's one of those movies that stay with you.
~ Julia xo
