Taxi (2015)

This film would probably have made more sense if the director had been playing a director (sic) playing a cabby (sic) who is clandestinely playing a director (sic) who is not-so-covertly filming it all while miraculously avoiding hitting other vehicles and/or pedestrians. (If you're going to get "meta", get well and truly "meta".)I'd expected a genuine documentary -- though I did wonder how people's identities would be protected if they said anything incriminating. Of course, the statement that the director "is joined by a host of spirited characters" -- with the emphasis on "characters", should really have given the game away.So, all in all, a pretty pointless film that adds nothing to my understanding of the repressive Iranian regime and also fails to entertain. I regret having agreed to play a punter watching this film at home on BBC iPlayer; back to "Extras" for me.

Jafar Panahi is banned from making movies so he disguises as a taxi driver and makes one in a taxi cab. He didnot change his appearance of course but wore a hat and made a documentary-like film mostly while driving in the streets of the capital Tehran.Panahi used non professional actors to perform the scenes, so the acting was rather bad and didnot seem normal at all as Panahi intended. The dialogue was more like a speech with a lot of messages to the authorities.. It was not like anything written for a movie not even if it is considered a documentary. Panahi only gathered what Iran is criticized for and just made the non professional actors state them bluntly.Yes I am familiar with the situation he is in and saying it objectively: if you want to do something whether you are right or wrong do it properly. After all he was the Kiarostami's assistant (the director of close-up, one of the best movies I have ever seen).All in all the execution was weak with no creativity in it.. He failed to connect with the social and cultural realities of Iran and really failed to connect on the emotional level through the stories he made with the audience. I expected much more.

While "Taxi" was definitely a well-deserved Golden Bear win for one of the most extraordinary film makers in the world today, it is one of his weaker films, even though all the strengths of his previous films are there. One could argue that the situations and "chance encounters" Panahi creates through his ingenious use of a dash cam in a fake taxi are rather a summary of his oeuvre. What makes "Taxi" so charming is that he readily admits that through the characters.As in "The White Balloon" (1995), there is a little girl who engages a boy on a moral question about money. As in "The Mirror" (1997), she has waited for Panahi to pick her up from school (she actually mentions the film). A teacher on the way to prison describes the plight of arrested women, which was the plot of "The Circle" (2000). She is visiting a woman arrested for watching a sports event, which recalls "Offside" (2006). A tale of robbery hints at "Crimson Gold" (2003), which had the same moral dilemma from the other perspective. And finally, Panahi using himself as a character is a direct continuation of "Closed Curtain" (2013).The main message is clearly that censorship doesn't work. As illustrated by the girl's aspiration to make a movie with a compact cam, a film maker cannot help but capture a reality which authorities do not want the world to see - because it is the reality the camera captures, not the reality the film maker chooses. Never before has Panahi been more outspoken about this, especially at the surprise end, with a rather chilling final line.However that also means that the subtlety which has characterized so much of his work is gone. If you admire Iranian film for its ability to show a lot of things which cannot be openly said in seemingly unimportant details, you may be a bit disappointed. In "Closed Curtain", he negotiated between social critique and symbolism, which left many viewers confused - but that was the whole point. He succeeded in making us feel like Iranians, trapped in a surreal reality. Here, we are taken back to the role of the neutral observer. That may actually work better for most, since "Taxi" is an open critique of the state. But open critique is less interesting to watch. The references to his earlier works may be understood as a message that nothing has changed in 20 years. However, they also make you remember how artistically superior these works were.

Of course, it is a special feat in itself that a director banned from making movies has yet made another movie and has smuggled it out of Teheran in order to show us what life in Iran is like. Unfortunately, this in itself is not enough to give this film a high rating or enjoy it thoroughly.The film is funny at times, but perhaps not as funny as I suspected from all the trailers. The passengers are quite obviously all actors (which is understandable considering the political situation in Iran) and the stories they tell appear to be all invented.The invented story lines and actors however sometimes failed to captivate me. I was intrigued by the dash cam at first, but started feeling slightly bored about 40 minutes into the film. This is a good piece of art by a great artist, but it is unfortunately far from brilliant.