Title: No Bears
Genre: Drama
Director: Jafar Panahi
Cast: Naser Hashemi, Bakhtiyar Panjeei, Vahid Mobaser, Jafar Panahi, Mina Kavani, Reza Heydari, Sinan Yusufoglu, Darya Alei, Amir Davar, Narges Delaram, Mina Khosravani
Release: 2022-10-06
Runtime: 107
Plot: Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has been barred from leaving the country, arrives at a village on the Iran-Turkey border to supervise a film based on a real-life couple seeking passports to Europe being shot in Turkey, but both his stay and the production run into trouble.NO BEARS (2022) - A local tells Panahi to be careful - there are Bears in the small town he's visiting. Later, he recants, giving the film it's title.
Jafar Panahi essentially plays himself here. A dissidant Iranian filmmaker who's making his latest movie virtually. An assistant, Reza (Reza Heydari), conducts the filming via cellphone and laptop. The film within a film concerns a couple who are trying to flee Iran. Panahi is hiding out in a tiny nearby village posing as a photographer who is trying to have some peace and quiet away from his home in Tehran. He asks a townsperson to use his camera to photograph a mating ceremony, while also shooting stills and video himself.
It's a deliberately paced work, with Panahi weaving the three stories together at his own pace. His location is close to the Turkish border and the Iranian government has forbid him from leaving the country. Unwittingly, his cover ends up creating a local commotion when he is accused of taking photographs of people he shouldn't have. The parallels evolve slowly: The local officials/national government. The local couple/the acting couple etc.. Each of the stories escalate almost quietly and without notice.
As with his other recent features, including TAXI, Panahi's tales are autobiographical without being in any way self-consious. THE FABELMANS this isn't. It's not always riveting drama, but Panahi work is perceptive with a repressed anger boiling just below the surface -- the final shot is masterful.
One can't write about Panahi without mentioning that shortly after NO BEARS was finished and stealthily entered into the Venice Film Festival (winning a Special Jury Prize), he was arrested for making "propaganda against the regime." Panahi was convicted and remains and put in prison. After much international pressure, he was released, but is said to be under constant watch by the government.
Panahi makes it clear - there are always Bears afoot in a repressive regime.
NO BEARS is now streaming on the Criterion Channel and for rental.
Jafar Panahi essentially plays himself here. A dissidant Iranian filmmaker who's making his latest movie virtually. An assistant, Reza (Reza Heydari), conducts the filming via cellphone and laptop. The film within a film concerns a couple who are trying to flee Iran. Panahi is hiding out in a tiny nearby village posing as a photographer who is trying to have some peace and quiet away from his home in Tehran. He asks a townsperson to use his camera to photograph a mating ceremony, while also shooting stills and video himself.
It's a deliberately paced work, with Panahi weaving the three stories together at his own pace. His location is close to the Turkish border and the Iranian government has forbid him from leaving the country. Unwittingly, his cover ends up creating a local commotion when he is accused of taking photographs of people he shouldn't have. The parallels evolve slowly: The local officials/national government. The local couple/the acting couple etc.. Each of the stories escalate almost quietly and without notice.
As with his other recent features, including TAXI, Panahi's tales are autobiographical without being in any way self-consious. THE FABELMANS this isn't. It's not always riveting drama, but Panahi work is perceptive with a repressed anger boiling just below the surface -- the final shot is masterful.
One can't write about Panahi without mentioning that shortly after NO BEARS was finished and stealthily entered into the Venice Film Festival (winning a Special Jury Prize), he was arrested for making "propaganda against the regime." Panahi was convicted and remains and put in prison. After much international pressure, he was released, but is said to be under constant watch by the government.
Panahi makes it clear - there are always Bears afoot in a repressive regime.
NO BEARS is now streaming on the Criterion Channel and for rental.
