This Is Not a Film

A more fitting title there never was: this non-film offers 75 minutes of camera footage crudely recorded—partly on a cell phone—in a luxury Tehran high rise. At the center of this documentary of sorts is prominent dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who we immediately learn is facing six years of jail time and a 20-year ban on making films in Iran. We see Panahi on the phone as his lawyer delivers the bad news, after which—in what seems to be some sort of clandestine act of defiance—Panahi calls his associate over to help film this documentary. In what would no doubt seem like a potentially interesting concept on paper, Panahi decides to describe and enact scenes from his latest screenplay, which had been met with disapproval by Iran's totalitarian government. But this attempt is hardly adequate, and Panahi begins to realize the futility of this one-man attempt to dramatize his script. Later, Panahi becomes fixated on the man who has come to take his trash, and at this point the film ceases to be a serious statement of defiance from an oppressed artist. Although one does get a certain obvious sense of the sort of soul-deadening authoritarian society a free-thinking artist like Panahi unfortunately has to deal with, the most interesting thing about this “film” is that it was smuggled out of Iran in a cake. A critical darling—arguably for reasons other than cinematic quality—that received a lot of publicity, This Is Not a Film is ultimately recommended as a somewhat awkward poster child for freedom of speech. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by Iranian filmmaker and scholar Jamsheed Akrami, excerpts from a 2008 interview with director and subject Jafar Panahi (10 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a widely acclaimed film.] (M. Sandlin)