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Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Blurring the line between what's real & what's reconstructed from scratch, Close-Up is truly unique in what it pulls off over the course of its runtime and is an incredibly original, meditative & masterly constructed example of experimental filmmaking that offers an interesting glimpse into the psyche of a complicated man while showcasing the power of cinema itself.Set in Iran, Close-Up covers the real-life trial of a cinephile who impersonated an acclaimed Iranian filmmaker and successfully conned a wealthy family in Tehran into believing that they would star in his new feature, that is until his luck ran out. The plot captures the ensuing trial that's filmed by the crew as it transpires in the courthouse while interspersed within those images are reenactments of the case.Directed by Abbas Kiarostami, Close-Up marks my first stint with his works & what instantly caught my attention was the opening credits that showed every cast member to be playing themselves, an unusually surprising move. Kiarostami's direction deserves kudos for he manages to erase the line that differentiates reality from fiction by using same individuals who were involved in the real-life scene to reenact the earlier events.What's also striking is that the reconstructed segments retain the raw, crude & untainted quality of recorded footage, while everything that unfolds in the courthouse is not a result of any rehearsed wordplay. Although the confession of the accused gives us a peek into his complex persona as well as his thought process, it also elegantly exposes the existing divide between the rich & the poor in Iranian society.Throughout the trial, Kiarostami tries to get the perpetrator's side of the story on the camera and while there are times that make you wonder if he's still staging an act or is being honest, some of the things said by him do reflect a bitter truth about the society we live in, like when he talks about the love, respect & hospitality he received from the family when he pretended to be someone else, something he never would've experienced otherwise.It's not that you can't differentiate between what's real & what's reenacted in Close-Up but the way its entire plot is executed, it makes you forget that deception & allows you experience it for what it is. Cinematography makes splendid use of the camera which is brilliantly utilised for long unbroken takes, hidden recordings, fixed smooth pans & fluid movements while Editing cleverly arranges the different segments into one consistently engaging narrative.On an overall scale, Close-Up is an expertly crafted docufiction about human identity and captures it in its most natural form. Real-life can be just as full of drama & spices as any story brought to life on a film canvas and both forms inspire one another more often than usual. Although regarded by many to be one of modern cinema's greatest works, Close-Up didn't enthral me enough to join that particular crowd but I do admire its uniqueness, originality & honesty. Definitely recommended.

Been banking this classic for sometime, with films of this stature I try to do a little reading up as possible so the experience is fresh without any bias… what eventuated was a film like nothing else before it or after it… What this bizarre film is about is quite simple on the surface but quite complex once u get into it… a film lover named Hossain Sabzian decides to imitate famous film maker Mohsen Makhmalbaf to get close with a well-to-do family… but this is not for burglary or any other malicious crime, he simply wants to be respected by people, his views listened to, which in turn gives him a new turn of life, happiness & confidence from his dreary existence where he's just scraping through supporting his family… The genius of Kiarostami was not to just capture this story, but since he got onto this story early off, he filmed the initial stages of the man's arrest, the court case, then got all the key people to agree to re-enact the story leading up to his arrest… what unravels is cinema like we've never seen before… so fascinating to hear Sabzian's life, his story… it's a film about identity, about class, about what some people will do in poverty… Kiarostami is a genius, the fact he has the ability to look outside the box of cinema & create in such a unique way is truly mesmerizing…http://samuellbronko.tumblr.com/post/119844572282/close-up-1990- abbas-kiarostami-9-10-added

A powerful film that has a question, how do we know if something is real or fake.A man is disguised and pretends himself to be a film director, he uses that alibi so as to feed himself and earn some petty money. Now that he is satisfied, he overdoes it to a point that he gets caught by the law. But wasn't he real to a good amount of time, are people so easily convinced and if all is true, then what is the real truth. Now, this might sum up an intrigue I kept jotting myself as I was curious even after the end of the film. Primarily, I thank criterion again for putting this in their collection and helping me learn about it. I respect their collection much. Secondly, I was lucky to have decided to watch this on Sunday night as this kind of film makes up most of the lost weekend. It simply makes me a viewer joyous, coz this is not a regular film that has a beginning with the introduction of hero, and ending with a big fight or dance. This is film, where there are questions, be it of identity or even purpose of existence and means of survival. That's like fodder to the cattle of viewers and I love such good fodder which makes me relish as well as make me try the same taste again.Abbas Kiarostami took this story from a real incident and make it as a docu-drama and he did it with finesse and perfection. So thanks to him in a very big way. As my earlier Kiarostami movie which is WHERE IS FRIEND'S HOME, this film is also low on production values and rich in content. Thanks to the ensemble cast who have played out their real life characters here. Kiarostami pulled it off astonishingly well. I would be critical if I said that anybody in the film acted well, indeed it's not called acting, it's called living the role and each one has done that exquisitely well. Kiarostami also used the sound superbly, it was real and yet so dramatic. The dialogs conveyed a deeper philosophical meaning and they had layers. The questions the judge put across to the accused were well drafted and they clarified most of my doubts as viewer too.As and when, I cast a logical doubt, the film returned me the answer asking a similar question that was running in my head and it was phenomenal in my perspective. Seldom, I have seen such a thing that keeps you glued making you think and as if it has heard your questions, answers you back. Kiarostami seems to have known the psyche of a viewer way too well, that he might have himself asked so many questions before putting the script in place. Also, I got to know of another wonderful Iranian director in this film Mohsen Makhamalbaf. Maybe I will catch up with some of Mohsen's films too. But for now, I am happy to have seen this and reviewing it for my own good gives me a happiness. I am going with 4/5 and please see this in any which way possible and I assure you that you will be subjected to a different kind of experience that's unique to say the least.

Only in Iran would a small time fraudster, otherwise unemployed salesman/printer's assistant quote Tolstoy (on art and life) at his trial. Only in Iran would the mother of the family defrauded by this fraudster ask the police not to arrest him,but -- in keeping with her code of hospitality -- ask them to 'let him finish his lunch' first. And perhaps only in Iran would a film director not only be allowed to film a trial in a courtroom, but also allowed to ask questions about of the fraudster, not only about his 'crime' of impersonating another famous director, but also about his views on art and life. Just as the distinction between fiction and non fiction has become increasingly blurred,this film is one of many other Iranian films where the viewer is not sure what is 'real' or 'enacted', since the people involved in the original incident (the family, the fraudster and the journalist') are 'playing themselves'. For me the most interesting part of the film was the testimony of the man on trial about the motivation for his impersonation. He testifies to the great power he held over this otherwise canny, educated family, who for some time at least he held in his power by virtue of his (assumed) identity. One doesn't know whether to applaud his honesty or to castigate him for his crime. This ambivalence towards individuals or regarding charged situations is a hallmark of new wave Iranian cinema, of which this film is an excellent representative. 'Close up' is an incredibly simple AND complex film. It can be read as a parable for post revolution Iranian society, or a realistic depiction of the problems faced both by the rich and poor (unemployment, for instance, affects the rich kids as well as the fraudster, making the former amenable to the schemes of the latter).The resolution of the film is a beautiful depiction of the grace that comes with rising above retribution.