Close-Up (1990)
I'm not quite getting the fuss over this film. Maybe it's because it was one of the first Iranian films to fully indulge the quasi-documentary impulse that has since blown up large. It has some wonderful moments, yeah, but I find Kiarostami's examination of truth (in both life and cinema) to be so studied in its post-modernism that it smacks of preciousness. Still worth seeing, if only for the marvelous ending (though I wish Kiarostami hadn't been so devoted to "truth" that he decided not to fix a malfunctiong mike, thus ruining the scene's sound). But it's a curio, not a masterpiece. Calm down, people. (Note to Facets Multimedia: If you're not going to spring for decent DVD transfers and instead resort to the ten-year-old-video-rental-level prints that I've seen on The Decalogue, The Joke and now this film, then please get the fuck out of the DVD business.)
Grade: B-
I'm not quite getting the fuss over this film. Maybe it's because it was one of the first Iranian films to fully indulge the quasi-documentary impulse that has since blown up large. It has some wonderful moments, yeah, but I find Kiarostami's examination of truth (in both life and cinema) to be so studied in its post-modernism that it smacks of preciousness. Still worth seeing, if only for the marvelous ending (though I wish Kiarostami hadn't been so devoted to "truth" that he decided not to fix a malfunctiong mike, thus ruining the scene's sound). But it's a curio, not a masterpiece. Calm down, people. (Note to Facets Multimedia: If you're not going to spring for decent DVD transfers and instead resort to the ten-year-old-video-rental-level prints that I've seen on The Decalogue, The Joke and now this film, then please get the fuck out of the DVD business.)
Grade: B-
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