Abbas Kiarostami's Film Close-Up
For next week, please watch and respond to Abbas Kiarostami's film Close-up (1990, Iran), on Kanopy
Please read this essay by film scholar Gilberto Perez on Kiarostami's work:
In Abbas Kiarostami’s masterful exploration of the nature of truth and cinematic illusion, a young man introduces himself as celebrated director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and enters intimately into the life of a family under the pretext that he’s scouting locations for a new film project. Deeply suspicious, the father investigates the stranger, leading to the con man’s exposure and arrest. At this stage, Kiarostami and his real-life film crew enter the story to film the imposter’s trial. Events preceding the young man’s arrest are dramatized and reconstructed, but with the real people “playing” themselves. Close-up has been widely hailed as one of Kiarostami’s crowning achievements and one of the greatest films of the 1990s.
Why do you think the film is called "close-up"? How does Kiarostami present this event? What layers does the film contain?
Abbas Kiarostami's Film Close-up (1990, Iran)
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Abbas Kiarostami's Film Close-up (1990, Iran)
The cinematic classic "Close-Up" by Abbas Kiarostami explores truth, illusion, and the complex relationship between reality and fiction. The film explores deceit, identity, and cinema's transforming power via a captivating true story. The title "Close-Up" symbolizes the film's look at its characters' lives and the truth it strives to reveal. The film follows a young guy who impersonates Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf and infiltrates a trusting family by offering to investigate sites for a new film (Kiarostami, n.d.). The family's father grows skeptical about the stranger's identity and investigates, and the con guy gets arrested once his dishonesty is
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