CLOSE-UP

Iran 1990 / 35 mm / Color / 102 min.

Bored on a bus trip, unemployed young Hossein Sabzian, who resembles Mohsen Makhmalbaf, meets Mrs. Ahankhah and her daughter and introduces himself as the well-known filmmaker. His impersonation-by-misunderstanding quickly snowballs into the involvement of an entire family in a phony film project and his own ensuing fraud rap (Kiarostami filmed the actual trial), with the actual Makhmalbaf arriving late to berate him in person. It all leads up to one of the most touching final close-ups in the cinema. This is the first of Kiarostami's Chinese box examinations of reality vs. unreality and a favourite among his own films.

Script:  Abbas Kiarostami.    Phot.:  Ali Reza Zarrindast.    Ed.:  Abbas Kiarostami.    Cast:  Hossein Sabzian, Hassan Farazmand, Houshang Shama'ie, Abolfazl Ahankhah, Mehrdad Ahankhah, Ahmad Reza Moayed Mohseni, Mohsen Makhmalbaf.    Prod.:  Ali Reza Zarrin, Centre for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults.    Canadian Distributor:  Mongrel Media, Toronto.

Abbas Kiarostami

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