Sunday, October 11, 2015

Jafar Panahi's Taxi

Watched a great movie last evening: Jafar Panahi's Tehran Taxi. I didn't know how celebrated and controversial a film-maker Panahi is in his home country of Iran. But I did read a bit about him beforehand. A brief background: He had been banned by the authorities from making anti-regime movies and was even put under house arrest; but had made a couple of movies while he was still under house arrest (I know, what a guy!). Now he has been out of house arrest for a while (though the big brother is still watching him) and working as a taxi driver (well, sort of), and this new movie of his has been shot entirely by a stationery camera in the taxi with the look & feel of taxi camera footage. To emphasize that it's not a movie, there are no credits either. 

With this information, you might expect some sort of rebellious & tough movie. Well it is that, but it's also unexpectedly & wonderfully humorous, fun and sensitive. Loved it!

2 comments:

Monika said...

I saw this movie some weeks ago at the Helsinki International Film Festival in Finland and I liked it too. It somehow hit me how less we now about the reality of other countries. I found it so brave and respectable how this movie was made. Did you have any favorite character? I liked the red haired lawyer woman so much! Her way of talking about heavy truths with such a strong yet optimistic manner is exceptional in my opinion. T

Radha said...

Hi Monika...
It was indeed a brave movie. Loved the little girl to played his niece. So spunky & vivacious :)