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Close-Up

Thursday, January 23, 2003  

Abbas Kiarostami's Close-Up (1990) is so damn good. Part documentary, part courtroom drama, part meditation on the meaning and value of art, it speaks more eloquently and more earnestly about the problems of postmodern identity than anything Charlie Kaufman could invent, and without all of those self-congratulatory winks to the audience. Ed Gonzalez has a great piece on the film at Slant. The last sentence of this first paragraph explains why, I think, the film works so well for me:

By 1990, Abbas Kiarastomi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf were still two or three films away from heralding Iranian Cinema as the next great cinematic wave. No one but Kiarostami seemed capable of recognizing the significance of Hossein Sabzian's affront to realism in cinema when he took on Makhmalbaf's namesake. Call it what you will (documentary, mockumentary, self-fulfilling prophecy), Close Up is still the definitive film-on-film commentary. At its simplest, Kiarostami's masterpiece tackles Sabzian's moral justification for taking on Makhmalbaf's identity (for him, it arose from his love of the arts). Close Up's genius, though, is not that it suggests that there's no legal and/or moral justification for Sabzian's actions but that Sabzian's defense is impossible to fathom unless the spectator can share the man's passion for art as cultural and intellectual emancipator.

Close-Up was among my first batch of rentals from GreenCine, who are based in San Francisco and who claim to be serving the interests of art lovers.

GreenCine carries the best selection of off-the-wall indie, arthouse and excellent DVD fare out there. GreenCine is about a life of art and the art of life AND celebrating a return of the arts to the Bay Area. GreenCine is about community AND making sure great filmmakers, art houses and festivalgoers all have a place they can call home. We're committed to the community of artists who make it happen, in a City that's happening - and we want you to be involved!

I spent several years with Netflix before becoming frustrated by lost DVDs and slow shipping times. I received my order from GreenCine five days after signing up, which isn't bad considering that there was a holiday weekend thrown in there. The major perk, though, is their selection, which is much more eclectic than their rivals.

I'm at home today, enjoying my view of the five or six inches of snow that fell last night. It's really cold by Knoxville standards, with wind chills dropping into the negative numbers. Some fun links to keep you warm:

• The Onion's interview with the team of reporters from The Daily Show. I actually wept at my disk while reading this yesterday.
• I don't care what Richard Gere says, Harvey Weinstein is still a jackass.
• Origami Boulder. I'm especially impressed by the performance art option.

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