Close-Up (1990 film)

Close-Up

DVD cover
کلوزآپ ، نمای نزدیک
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
Produced by Ali Reza Zarrin
Written by Abbas Kiarostami
Starring Hossain Sabzian
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Cinematography Ali Reza Zarrindast
Edited by Abbas Kiarostami
Production
company
Distributed by Celluloid Dreams
Release date
 1990
Running time
 98 min.
Country Iran
Language Persian

Close-Up (Persian: کلوزآپ ، نمای نزدیک‎‎, Klūzāp, nemā-ye nazdīk) is a 1990 Iranian docufiction written, directed and edited by Abbas Kiarostami. The film tells the story of the real-life trial of a man who impersonated film-maker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, conning a family into believing they would star in his new film. It features the people involved, acting as themselves. A film about human identity, it helped to increase recognition of Kiarostami in the West.

Many critics consider Close-Up a masterpiece of world cinema; in the 2012 Sight & Sound poll, it was voted by critics onto "The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time" list.[1]

Plot

Hossain Sabzian is a cinephile, and in particular a big fan of popular Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. One day, Sabzian is riding a bus with a copy of a published screenplay of The Cyclist; Mrs. Ahankhah sits next to him, revealing she is a fan of the film. Sabzian tells her that he himself is Makhmalbaf, the creator and learns that her sons are interested in film. Posing as Makhmalbaf, Sabzian visits the Ahankhah family several times over the next two weeks. He flatters them by saying he wants to use their house in his next film and their sons as actors. He also borrows 1,900 tomans from one of the sons for cab fare. Mr. Ahankhah starts to suspect him as an imposter trying to rob them, especially when a magazine photograph shows a younger Makhmalbaf with darker hair. He invites a journalist, Hossain Farazmand, who confirms that Sabzian is indeed an impostor. The police come to arrest Sabzian, while Farazmand takes several pictures for his upcoming article titled "Bogus Makhmalbaf Arrested".[2]

Kiarostami visits Sabzian in prison and helps to move his trial up, and receives permission from the judge to record the trial. At the trial, Sabzian is tried for fraud and attempted fraud. He reveals his motivations for the imitation as love for Makhmalbaf's film and cinema, while the Ahankhah's son recounts his visits as they started to suspect him. Due to his circumstances as a young father with no prior record and his remorse, the judge asks the family if they would be willing to pardon Sabzian. They agree in exchange for him becoming a productive member of society. After the trial, the real Makhmalbaf meets Sabzian and gives him a ride back to the Ahankhah's house, with Kiarostami's crew following. When they meet Mr. Ahankhah, he says of Sabzian: "I hope he'll be good now and make us proud of him."

Cast

Production

Close-Up is based on real events that occurred in Northern Tehran in the late 1980s. Kiarostami first heard about Sabzian in 1989 after reading about the incident in an article in the Iranian magazine Sorush by journalist Hassan Farazmand. Kiarostami immediately suspended work on the film project that he was in pre-production of and began making a documentary on Sabzian. Kiarostami was allowed to film Sabzian's trial and also got Sabzian, the Ahankhahs and Farazmand to agree to participate in the film and to re-enact incidents from the past. Kiarostami also arranged for Mohsen Makhmalbaf to meet Sabzian and help facilitate forgiveness between Sabzian and the Ahankhahs.[3]

Critical reception

When the film opened in Iran, reviews were almost uniformly negative, and the film only began to be appreciated after it was shown abroad. It ranked #43 in the British Film Institute's critics' poll of the 50 best films ever made. New York Times film critic Stephen Holden called the film "brilliant," noting its "radically drab cinema-verite style that helps blur any difference between what is real and what is reconstructed."[4] Los Angeles Times critic Dennis Lim called the film eloquent and direct and that it provided "a window into the psyche of a complicated man and into the social and cultural reality of Iran."[5]

Influence

Five years after Close-Up, Moslem Mansouri and Mahmoud Chokrollahi wrote and directed the documentary Close-Up Long Shot (Persian: کلوزآپ نمای دور ‎‎, Klūzāp nemā-ye dūr) in which Sabzian talks about his infatuation with cinema, his impersonation of Makhmalbaf and how his life has changed after working with Kiarostami. The film premiered at Turin's 14° Festival internazionale cinema giovani in November 1996 where it won the FIPRESCI Prize – Special Mention.[6][7]

Nanni Moretti's 1996 Italian short film Opening Day of Close-Up follows a theater owner as he prepares to show Kiarostami's film at his independent cinema.

Marcus Söderlund's 2007 music video for Swedish duo The Tough Alliance's "A New Chance" pays homage to Kiarostami's film with an almost shot-for-shot reproduction of a scene following two characters on a motorcycle.[8][9]

Awards

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time". Sight & Sound. British Film Institute. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  2. ↑ These scenes are shown in flashback throughout the film and were re-enacted.
  3. ↑ "Close-up: Prison and Escape". www.criterion.com. June 22, 2010. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
  4. ↑ Holden, Stephen, "Close Up (1990) FILM REVIEW; The Pathos Of Deceit By a Victim Of Longing." The New York Times, December 31, 1999, Accessed on November 17, 2012.
  5. ↑ Lim, Dennis, "A Second Look: Abbas Kiarostami's 'Close-Up'." The Los Angeles Times, June 9, 2010, Accessed on November 17, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Close-Up Long Shot (Forum, Film Festival Berlin 1997)". arsenal-berlin.de. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "Torino Film Festival". torinofilmfest.org. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  8. ↑ The Tough Alliance - A New Chance. 3 September 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2016 – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ YouTube. youtube.com. Retrieved 14 March 2016.

Bibliography

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