Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s (Taste of Cherry) bold, irreverent drama-slash-documentary Close-Up uses a real-life event – con man impersonates famous director Mohsen Makhmalbaf in order to extort money and goods from a close-knit family – as the basis for its narrative casting the actual people who went through it all in reality to play themselves.

CRITIQUE

Close-Up is as out there and as radical as any film I’ve arguably ever seen. Somehow Kiarostami convinced all the players from the real-life Iranian scandal to play themselves, including the family duped by the filmmaker impersonating con artist Hossain Sabzian. It’s a crazy setup and how he managed to do it defies belief, and watching it all play out onscreen the line between fiction and reality gets so blurry I began to wonder which way was up.

But once you get past the fact the players are all real, after a while I did sort of begin to feel like this film was nothing more than one of those staged ‘reenactments’ you’d find on a television show like “Unsolved Mysteries.” Sure a lot of it is fascinating, and yes Kiarostami’s observations about identity, artistic expression, the desire for fame and the importance of cinema are all extremely clear and lucid, but that doesn’t necessarily make the actual watching of the film from start to finish any more interesting. The how he did it is more intriguing than the why he did it, and for my part even at a brisk 98 minutes I can’t say my attention stayed entirely with the picture all the way from start to finish.

Not that this makes Kiarostami’s achievement any less extraordinary. It also doesn’t diminish his massive skills as a filmmaker. The guy is rightly considered one of the planetary greats working in the industry today, and even if I wasn’t completely bowled over by this 1990 effort that doesn’t mean I’m starting to think any less of him. His ability to craft such a startling and original feature such as this should be applauded, discussed and dissected, and all burgeoning filmmakers thinking of tackling a project even slightly similar should be forced to watch this one before they proceed.

All I’m saying is that, other than from a strictly studious and theoretical perspective ultimately Close-Up as an enjoyable cinematic experience just didn’t do all that much for me. I was impressed, yes, and I certainly respected Kiarostami’s skills, but other than that I can’t really imagine I’m going to be returning to this particular film again in the same way I have the director’s Taste of Cherry or The Wind Will Carry Us.

THE VIDEO

Close-Up is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. It’s an interesting decision by Criterion to release this particular title on Blu-ray, as I’m really not sure high definition really does anything for it one way or the other. Still, this is another strong transfer for the studio, many of the lighter scratches completely eliminated while the grain element is apparent but in a way that gives the film a much richer texture helping to amplify the documentary feel.

THE AUDIO

Close-Up is presented in its original Persian monaural with English subtitles. This uncompressed lossless audio track is about as good as couple be expected considering the source material, and as such Criterion should be applauded once again for paying such close attention to detail (especially considering the frequent audio dropouts which may or may not be intentional according to the commentary track) and trying their best to make sure every syllable at least has the chance to be heard.  

THE EXTRAS

Extras here include:

• The Traveler, Abbas Kiarostami’s first feature film
• Audio Commentary by Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa and Jonathan Rosenbaum, authors of Abbas Kiarostami
• “Close-Up” Long Shot – A documentary on the film’s central figure, Hossein Sabzian, made six years after the film was completed
• A Walk with Kiarostami – Documentary portrait of the director by Iranian film professor Jamsheed Akrami
• Essay by Film Critic Godfrey Cheshire 

These extras are all pretty much essential in regards to appreciating Close-Up to the fullest. That audio commentary is almost more interesting and intriguing than the actual film itself, while the two documentaries border on the mesmerizing. The best inclusion here, though, has to be The Traveler, and having never seen Kiarostami’s first feature getting the chance to experience – also in high definition – was really quite remarkable.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Close-Up is a fascinating film on many levels but one that from a pure entertainment standpoint I’m not quite sure I can admit to being all that jazzed about. Still, once again Criterion has done an exemplary job giving a vital and important filmmaker their just due, and for fans of Kiarostami or of Iranian cinema picking up this Blu-ray, if even only for a rental, is pretty much a must.