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| Syd |
 Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:17 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I've seen A Taste of Cherry and Close-Up, but I don't remember if he did that in those movies. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| knox |
| Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 12:03 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
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| I think Taste of Cherry did end kind of that way, quite abruptly and with a similarly "framed" situation, in that case the Persian guy looking up out of his grave as a thunderstorm starts up. Then it went to a long blackout (hey, symbolism!). Then some kind of strange credits sequence with camcorders shots of the film crew making the film. And ATOC also has lots of landscape shots that are framed by a car window. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 1:55 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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| AToC did indeed end that way...another "window" into...the void...and the same absence of a denouement or whatever you want to call it. I always picture the guy, like Chief Dan George in "Little Big Man" - it starts to rain, droplets spatter his face, he opens his eyes and sits up, shrugs, says to LBM: "Huh. Maybe it's NOT a good day to die." |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:33 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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This is Not a Film is difficult to review in a Film Forum because it is Not a Film while being a film thereby proving Godel's Theorem for movies.
In any case, it is a day in the life of banned Iranian film director Jafar Panahi as he awaits word on the appeal of his six-year prison sentence and twenty-year ban from directing. To get around the ban, he either is filmed by Mojtaba Mirtahmasb or uses a stationary camera, reasoning that he's not forbidden from acting or describing films. It's also the Iranian New Year, which has been celebrated with firecrackers (a practice the mullahs are trying to ban so it's also a form of protest). At one point we see dramatic TV images of the flooding from the Japanese earthquake of 2011 on Panahi's huge TV screen.
As Mirtahmasb leaves, they encounter a trash collector whom Panahi starts to record with his cell phone, then eventually grabs the camera and films the young man all the way from the 9th floor and into the basement. This is surprisingly entertaining. (It also violates the directing ban.)
This film made a star of Igi the Iguana, Panahi's daughter's pet, who's fascinating to watch, especially as Igi decides to climb up Parani as Parani is looking up filtered sites on his laptop. I never realizes iguanas shared this habit with cats. No word yet on whether Igi wants to direct.
Overall, the Not a Film does suffer from the limitation of the filming situation, but is interesting in showing how creativity will find an out even under oppression, even it takes smuggling a flash drive in a birthday cake, which is how this not-a-film got out of Iran. The DVD has a commentary giving much more detail on filmmaking conditions in Iran. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 3:12 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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This is Not a Film is interesting as a protest, and glimpse into both normal and abnormal life in Iran.
The film itself is a bit slight, as basically Panahi is frustrated at being kept in limbo and not allowed to work, so he documents his inaction and unfulfilled ideas.
I found it interesting that the New Year's celebrations are described as fireworks, which there are, but just outside Panahi's apartment building they also have open fires they appear to pouring gasoline on at intervals. Filmed from inside the gates of the apartment -- he can't safely bring the camera out in public -- it makes the outside world look hellish.
I have a few of his early films here and don't think I've seen any of them. I'll dig out Crimson Gold. Not sure if I have The Circle. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 12:09 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Caught the end of Four Weddings and a Funeral, which I still love, although I should really get my own copy to fully appreciate Scarlet's ring. I like the little romances in the background, like the girl who has sort-of-learned sign language to communicate with Charles's deaf brother. But can poor Fishface (or Fiona) ever find true love? At least Charles (Hugh Grant) did finally get a well-deserved smack on the face.
Edit: DUCKface. Maybe I should just stick to calling her Henrietta. |
Last edited by Syd on Sun Apr 28, 2013 2:26 pm; edited 1 time in total
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:09 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Didn't she marry Prince Charles?
4w&1F goes on the list with Groundhog Day of RomComs so good even Andie MacDowell cannot spoil them, no matter how hard she tries. And lord but she tries. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 2:25 pm |
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whiskeypriest wrote: Didn't she marry Prince Charles?
4w&1F goes on the list with Groundhog Day of RomComs so good even Andie MacDowell cannot spoil them, no matter how hard she tries. And lord but she tries.
Fiona married Prince Charles and Duckface found somebody too. Matthew got a new boyfriend. Charles and Carrie are living in sin. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 4:26 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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| The much derided last line in FW&AF would have been fine if Andie McDowell had said it with believable irony. Maybe it was too English a line for her. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 4:52 pm |
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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jeremy wrote: The much derided last line in FW&AF would have been fine if Andie McDowell had said it with believable irony. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:50 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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| Syd and Gromit........I saw This is Not a Film a while back. The thing that stuck with me was the standard of living the filmmaker had......pretty comfortable......didn't expect that. Reminds me of Ai Wei Wei........government oppression of artists. That film is a blockbuster. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 6:23 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| Watched Coriolanus. Liked it a good deal, being a fan of both Shakespeare and Ralph Fiennes in full forehead vein throbbing mode, which he is in for most of the movie - which was actually a bit much, even for me. Redgrave was pretty great. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 6:32 pm |
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Befade wrote: Syd and Gromit........I saw This is Not a Film a while back. The thing that stuck with me was the standard of living the filmmaker had......pretty comfortable......didn't expect that. Reminds me of Ai Wei Wei........government oppression of artists. That film is a blockbuster.
Panahi's living in a house on the Caspian Sea. I get the impression he's pretty well-to-do. Apparently he's not under house arrest, just forbidden to leave Iran. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:24 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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I think he's comfortably middle class, or upper middle class -- part of the educated elite. I think his wife is a nurse.
I like the idea of people in America seeing that people live normal lives in normal apartments in Iran.
Panahi has tweaked the gov't at times publicly and hasn't been afraid to make political statements, and not surprisingly a regime such as Iran's has taken measures against him. This Is Not A Film is exactly the type of protest and defiance Panahi has specialized in in the past. He's brave. But also facing a 6 year prison sentence.
The Iranian Gov't has to balance their desire to punish and silence Panahi with all the bad publicity and international protest they receive from punishing and silencing a well-known artist. Yes there are parallels with Ai Wei Wei, and I'd like to see the doc on him. But it's also reminiscent of Zhang YiMou's relationship with the PRC Gov't. He was banned from making films for a few years because the gov't didn't like the social criticisms in his films, similar to Panahi's focus on women's rights. Zhang also happened to be the most famous Chinese filmmaker, more akin to Kiarostami, and the gov't was trying to promote Chinese film/culture, so they patched things up. Zhang not as political as Panahi, and more willing to veer off into commercial fare to stay on the good side of the censors. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:30 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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whiskeypriest wrote: Watched Coriolanus. Liked it a good deal, being a fan of both Shakespeare and Ralph Fiennes in full forehead vein throbbing mode, which he is in for most of the movie - which was actually a bit much, even for me. Redgrave was pretty great.
I would independently recommend the four discs of Playing Shakespeare ('84) - Ben Kingsley, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, et al, practicing their craft under the gentle guidance of the legendary John Barton. |
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