Hot Off the Press!
THIS IS NOT A FILM has for some reason featured on a number of film review pages this week, despite not being a film.
Though its director/actor/producer/writer/iguana-owner was under house arrest and banned from making films for 20 years, we’re lucky that Jafar Panahi has the guts to show us what he’s made of.
The Evening Standard admits
No, this is not a film in the orthodox sense. But it is better than many pieces of work that confidently claim to be.
and Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian gave this “non-film” 5 stars
Panahi’s title hints at the Magrittean absurdity of what he has to do to get round the law. Technically, it is the work of its cameraman Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, and Panahi is not being “interviewed” but rather speaking lines, like an actor, on the subject of film-making. The result is a heartbreaking, agonising study of loneliness … He tries and fails to look after a neighbour’s querulous pet dog, which he has to return to its owner because it is upsetting his pet iguana, Igi. His wry sense of humour is impressive, and his elegant dignity is profoundly moving.
Read all reviews here.
____________________________________________________________________
Want to know what the critics made of the latest book, film or play? The Omnivore rounds up newspaper reviews, bringing you a cross section of critical opinion. Sign up to our newsletter.
