Taxi

The director takes to driving a taxi in Tehran and picks up passengers through the day. The camera is fixed inside the car and almost never leaves it. Everyone who gets in tells him something: a man selling pirated films, a couple after an accident, a lawyer who works on rights cases, a schoolgirl who wants to make a film. Which passengers are actors is left unresolved and the film deliberately does not explain. The narrative thus makes the line between documentary and fiction its own subject. Jafar Panahi directed and plays himself. It was made while the ban on his filmmaking was in force, and no names appear in the credits, to protect the crew. It won the Golden Bear in Berlin. Who it's for: those who like cinema that makes its politics through form. Who it's not for: viewers wanting plot; the film is almost entirely conversation.