A totally delightful, witty and understated account on contemporary life in Iran. The director playing himself driving a taxi, to earn extra cash because his movies are frowned upon by the State, has seemingly casual encounters with various passengers. The documentary style filming is all done from a camera mounted inside the cab. The encounters range from various strangers representing different views on politics, art and life, women's necessary wiliness in a repressed society, of social and religious prejudices. One passenger recognizes Jafar as the film-director (!) and tries to get him involved with his black-market dealings in foreign and suppressed local films. Implications about Sharia law are being deconstructed when a friend refuses to inform the police after having been robbed because he cannot bear the idea of the thief being dismembered or even hung for his deed. An interesting role is played by his young niece whom he has to pick up from school. Her assignment is to make a movie with her own small camcorder, following the rules and guidelines imposed by her teacher and the State. This ploy allows him to indirectly expose bureaucratic and political absurdities about film-making itself and the stifling rules on daily life.
Review of Taxi
