Taxi Teheran (2015)

A taxi driver who does not know the city (Teheran) very well talks to a bunch of people who, for different reasons, ride with him in his car. The idea of Taxi is a very simple one, but for all that, an entire world seems to seep into this apparent simplicity. Jafar Panahi often toys with the distinction between reality and fiction, and here he does that as well, in a tender and extremely unpretentious way. Or at least that was how it seemed to me. Some of the customers recognize Panahi as the prominent director. Movie-making is also the topic of some of the conversation between "Jafar" and his precocious niece, who is engaged in a film project at school. The charm of the film lies in the vivid portrait of various people it manages to paint. It has the gentle flow of life itself, with a variety of people from different walks of life. The camera is always placed on the front panel of the car, but even so, the perspective we are given never feels static. Plenty of things are going on, despite the very limited framework. Taxi Teheran is a light-hearted film that takes on its sometimes controversial (in Iran) subjects - among them censorship and punishment) with gentle humor and warm humanity. It is impressive that a director who has been banned in his own country (a 20 year ban on making films!) is able to keep up this kind of complete lack of resentment or bitterness.

What perhaps makes this film so good is that its improvisational feel works very well here. The conversations drift here and there, and always succeeds in keeping me focused and interested. The references to Panahi's celebrity at no point feels like an act of self-glorification; the Panahi we see here as a fiction character is a humble guy who often embarrasses himself and whose celebrity always has a very ambiguous role. In one of the most funny sections, some kind of under-the-table-video-store guy rolls into the car and starts to chat with Panahi. He rents out banned movies - a perfect moment to make some good business! There is also the niece for whom Panahi is a bumbling old-timer who never does the right thing. She establishes her own perspective by directing her camera at Panahi. The two talk about what can and cannot be shown on film. The girl's teacher has instructed the pupils sternly, and now she is already trying to revolt a little - by filming a boy who is taking money which isn't his and then demanding the boy to give the money back because otherwise she would be breaking the rules of film-making! The film also has sad moments, as when Panahi meets an acquaintance he hasn't meet for a long time, and there is an uncanny awkwardness between them. For all this, Taxi Teheran is in a most curious way a hopeful and quietly defiant film about people who are living in difficult surroundings.