Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990) More people should see Kiarostami's work. This is a fascinating example of it, the second of his I've seen but I have more on my Netflix queue.
Close-Up is considerably more complex than it at first appears. Kiarostami makes a point of emphasizing the mundane. Those early scenes of small talk and casual conversation help to create a certain atmosphere that makes it all seem so real. Even later sequences which are re-enactments of earlier events do not appear to be artificial at all: I had to keep reminding myself that Kiarostami did not film the original meetings of Hossain Sabzian and the various family members. The irony of this is that Sabzian, while pretending to be the famed director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, claimed that he was going to put the Ahankahs in a movie... and as a result of this case, they did in fact wind up in a movie!
The film shows a great deal of compassion toward Sabzian, and to everyone else involved for that matter. It is incredible to think that after the trial was over, they all agreed to participate in the re-enactments of earlier events. I don't like to give a film a 10/10 until I've seen it at least a second time, so I won't here... but on a rewatch it could well reach that highest rating. 9/10
Close-Up is considerably more complex than it at first appears. Kiarostami makes a point of emphasizing the mundane. Those early scenes of small talk and casual conversation help to create a certain atmosphere that makes it all seem so real. Even later sequences which are re-enactments of earlier events do not appear to be artificial at all: I had to keep reminding myself that Kiarostami did not film the original meetings of Hossain Sabzian and the various family members. The irony of this is that Sabzian, while pretending to be the famed director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, claimed that he was going to put the Ahankahs in a movie... and as a result of this case, they did in fact wind up in a movie!
The film shows a great deal of compassion toward Sabzian, and to everyone else involved for that matter. It is incredible to think that after the trial was over, they all agreed to participate in the re-enactments of earlier events. I don't like to give a film a 10/10 until I've seen it at least a second time, so I won't here... but on a rewatch it could well reach that highest rating. 9/10