"Close-Up" - Film Review

Reality and fiction are blurred throughout Close-Up. Nearly everyone in the film is playing themselves; some parts are re-enactments, others are actual documentary footage. But the real kicker is that it's about a man, Hossain Sabzian, who cons a family into believing that he's a famous film director, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and that he wants them to star in his latest movie.

The film moves back and forth between the past where he's arrested and dupes the family, and his current trial for fraud. The man claims that he had no intention to harm or steal from the family; he was just merely playing a part. The young film buff never could afford to make his own movies and so he's performing a strangely vicarious form of gaining the experience life never afforded him.

But here's the truly bizarre thing; there's genuinely times where it appears as though the guy actually never meant for the whole ordeal to be taken as fraud. He just liked the experience of it; the attention, people listening to him, and the chance to make a movie. And the film wants us to accept that this is absolutely a potential truth. In fact, the real takeaway is that we'll probably never know the truth of the matter; it's probably much messier than that (and cracks definitely show in the argument  Sabzian puts across).

The really odd thing about the film though is how it treats itself like it's a documentary (mind you, at times it is one). There are moments where obviously this isn't the case. But for the most part, it's like a self-serious mockumentary. But it really works at times; there are totally times where you forget it's not real and become immersed in the fascinating story at hand. Part of this effect is because it is real; there are moments that are actual documentary footage and there are moments that are staged, but even the staged moments come unnervingly close to reality. But even during the documentary footage, it still feels more like a fictional tale than a documentary. Which is to say, one can't help but feel as though director Abbas Kiarostami isn't so much concerned with this story but the nature of it. He's letting the inherent strangeness of this story be the real centerpiece of what we should take away. 

Stray Thoughts:
-In the end the real Makhmalbaf meets with Sabzian to reconcile with the family, which is to say the conflict smooths itself over in an even more unreal fashion.
-The reporter, Hossain Farazmand, is very colorful in the opening scene. I wish we'd seen more of him.
-So apparently directors are pretty much God-like figures over in Iran.
-I think I like the idea of this story more than the story itself.  The transitions between scenes felt kind of clunky, while the individual scenes were largely pretty great.
-The scenes of Sabzian speaking at the trial are thoroughly captivating. 

Consensus: The story is a fascinating and sympathetic look at identity and the fine line between fiction and reality.

Grade: A-