S for Fake
Close-Up (1990)
directed by Abbas Kiarostami
rating: 4 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Carnegie Library
As here, it is sometimes said of Kiarostami’s characters that the action of asking for directions evokes disorientation in the mind of the viewer. That is a door through which one might approach Taste of Cherry, but there is no suggestion of disorientation here, in a scene where a man on the street offers to sell a turkey to the passengers of a taxicab who stop to ask him where they are. In spite of the journalist’s insistence that he is nervous about the impending arrest of a man accused of impersonating a famous Iranian film director, those first fifteen minutes pass easily, even amiably. We do not see the arrest itself because we wait with the cab driver as he turns the car around, then off, and stands by the curb kicking at a soft pile of dead leaves.
Gently, gently, Kiarostami acquits a man accused of fraud in such a way that even the victims – outraged by the verdict in real life – embrace Hossein Sabzian as the dreamer that Kiarostami wants him to be. Movies inspire the man’s actions and draw the family in. Movies give voice to his poverty and encourage Sabzian to be brave. “Legally that might be an acceptable charge,” he says as the charge of fraud is read from the bench, “but morally it is not.”
Intentions matter in episodes in which embarrassment is the worst of the harm done. Thus the advice that Close-Up imparts is specific, but Kiarostami is deeply generous in seeing it through. The reunion at the end need not be related to the trial, or the stories of these people, but it shows a better way to be a part of the world.
directed by Abbas Kiarostami
rating: 4 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Carnegie Library
As here, it is sometimes said of Kiarostami’s characters that the action of asking for directions evokes disorientation in the mind of the viewer. That is a door through which one might approach Taste of Cherry, but there is no suggestion of disorientation here, in a scene where a man on the street offers to sell a turkey to the passengers of a taxicab who stop to ask him where they are. In spite of the journalist’s insistence that he is nervous about the impending arrest of a man accused of impersonating a famous Iranian film director, those first fifteen minutes pass easily, even amiably. We do not see the arrest itself because we wait with the cab driver as he turns the car around, then off, and stands by the curb kicking at a soft pile of dead leaves.
Gently, gently, Kiarostami acquits a man accused of fraud in such a way that even the victims – outraged by the verdict in real life – embrace Hossein Sabzian as the dreamer that Kiarostami wants him to be. Movies inspire the man’s actions and draw the family in. Movies give voice to his poverty and encourage Sabzian to be brave. “Legally that might be an acceptable charge,” he says as the charge of fraud is read from the bench, “but morally it is not.”
Intentions matter in episodes in which embarrassment is the worst of the harm done. Thus the advice that Close-Up imparts is specific, but Kiarostami is deeply generous in seeing it through. The reunion at the end need not be related to the trial, or the stories of these people, but it shows a better way to be a part of the world.
posted by NPK at 11:36 AM
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