SOLD OUT- Iranian Cinema : Kiarostami's Close Up

Iranian New Wave maestro Abbas Kiarostami has created multiple masterpieces like Where is the Friend’s House? The Taste of Cherry, which continue to be ranked as some of the best films ever made. However, Kiarostami’s Protected content Close-Up is arguably the most influential addition to his filmography because of its unique narrative style and the unforgettable experiments with fiction and reality.

Kiarostami chooses to begin at the lowest point in Hossain Sabzian’s life, leading up to a moment where his deception is outed by the journalist Hassan Farazmand who outlines the entire story for a taxi driver as well as the audience. In this, he shows us how the specifics of the story do not even matter. What matters is the man himself. Why did he pretend to be a famous filmmaker in front of an affluent family? Was it because he wanted to cheat them out of money? It has to be a classic case of identity fraud for personal profit, right?

Sabzian’s actions are not only a part of a micro-rebellion against class divides. It is a transgression of a cinephile against the fictional nature of the medium itself by questioning the mechanisms of fiction. If an actor plays a director in a film, it is celebrated and considered an artistic achievement, but he is accused of fraud just because his medium is the city of Tehran.
Sabzian is neither an artist nor a fraud. He is a cinephile who got lost in the labyrinth of reflected revelations.
FarOutMag
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