Bakhtiar (Bakhtiar Panjei) and Zara (Mina Khosravani) struggle to obtain an extra passport so that they can flee to Europe together, a plot that stems from the actors’ (at least as they appear in No Bears) own lived experiences. The second storyline occurs within Panahi’s intra-film narrative, which similarly concerns a star-crossed couple. However, he quickly becomes embroiled in a local scandal involving a photo he allegedly took of a young couple whose union is strictly forbidden by the town’s traditional customs, though he vehemently swears that no such photograph exists. In his free time, he takes photographs of the small town he’s lodging in, with special emphasis on its provincial residents. Restricted from leaving Iran (much like the real-life Panahi), he monitors the production’s progress via Zoom and cell phone calls-that is, when the frequently-spotty reception allows for it. The first involves Panahi (who plays himself) covertly renting a room near the Iranian border, secretly overseeing the shoot for his next film, which is happening in a nearby Turkish city. No Bears incorporates two parallel plot lines. Completed two months before the director’s most recent arrest-culminating in a six-year prison sentence for “propaganda against the regime” in his native Iran-the film is a meta-commentary on the artistic suppression that Panahi has been increasingly subjected to throughout his career, also currently affecting a large swath of Iranian filmmakers, artists and activists. The rigidity of borders-literal and figurative-is the primary interest of No Bears, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s latest film. But no matter which corner you inhabit-no matter which “thing” or “where” in Everything Everywhere All at Once resonates with you-cinema had something great to offer. We rebooted familiar franchises, saw old masters deal with their present realities, and embraced the multiverse. It was a year dealing with isolation (through creepypastas, Rear Window mysteries, and finger-chopping), donkeys (Polish and Irish), stop-motion, RRR, Tar Tar Tar and Pinocchios (seriously, three new wooden boys). Yet, every year, selecting the best movies released from all over the world has been a painstaking experience.Ģ022 was, of course, no different. Every year since I’ve started running this section of Paste Magazine, there have been undeniable screw-ups in the film industry. burns its goodwill alongside its library in search of some kind of short-term profit as Netflix loses subscribers, password sharers and the faith of its shareholders as the Marvel movies finally show signs of fatigue at the box office-the last few years have led to some shaky foundations and some shakier decision-making, but have yet to harm the overall quality of the yearly batch of films. In 2022, whether it meant the long-coming sequels to Top Gun, Avatar, Black Panther, Jackass or Beavis and Butt-Head, we were going back to the basics after the pandemic had put our conflicted world of theatrical blockbusters and streaming services into sharp relief. Towards the end of the film she was crucified which turned out to be good preparation for the reviews.It’s all coming back to the movies. Her acting career came to a screeching halt with this performance. Male lead David Argue gives easily the most embarrassing performance of his career, but can perhaps claim it as a crime of passion since he was reported at the time to be romantically entangled with female lead (and Australian Playboy Playmate) Amanda Dole. Haydn Keenan instead had his head firmly up his ass and we end up with about a dozen sniggers and not one laugh. To have any chance at all of raising a laugh it needed a director with his tongue firmly in his cheek. The plot threads involve such inanities as Nazi lesbians, dingo girls, and a wheelchair bound megalomaniac harridan. The screenplay quickly loses its way through the absurd plot lines and just piles scene on scene in the hope that it will somehow work. The obvious stylistic (if that's the word) influence on this fiasco is the Troma school of low budget schlock but the level of talent on display is more that of the monumentally untalented Edward D.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |