437

"Resonates heavy with the Proustian understanding of how memories only amplify and enrich with time." - Eric Henderson

#459

Very clever, funny, moving: an all-around lovely film that, much like the slightly better Close-Up, shows how film-about-film and meta-narrative need not be mere navel-gazing or 'cold' filmmaking/writing. Also a truly wonderful ending scene.

# 564

Like Close-Up, this recreates a scene from Makhmalbaf's life, and it's even more brilliant in its execution. What results is a deceptively simple treatise on memory, regret, truth, perception, idealism, filmmaking and politics. There are some truly astonishing surprises in the story and in the telling of the story. Most startling and moving of all is the freeze-frame ending, a rewriting of history as desired by the actors themselves. And it's done with a light touch, often delightfully comic.

Of all the things I expected from an Iranian film, this somewhat comical meta-movie was not it. It's very interesting, and it's incredibly well done and woven together in a brilliant way. Intriguing, fascinating and a joy to watch, even though it feels like it's falling apart a bit further into the film it's like a puzzle very well put together.

412

Another fourth wall shattered as had been the trend in 90's Iranian cinema. Some of it is nice but there's just not enough substance here for a feature, and eventually it just rambles. Salaam Cinema does some of the same things better, so to the casual viewer I'd say watch that instead. The good thing about this one is that it shows you some Iranian urban scenery.

Fascinating, playful and deeply human. Ostensibly a documentary about an event 20 years past in the director's life,it becomes more than that as it explores the emotional connections of the key players to that event as well as their slightly different memories and perspectives of it. It's also interesting to see the reaction of the three young leads to their roles as they struggle to connect to the events and emotions of another time and person. The ending's a perfect summary of the film's theme