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This Is Not A Film Journal - Lai Cheuk Yin Arthur - 3035571486

The document discusses scenes from the film This is Not a Film that make the viewer question whether the film is scripted or a true documentary. It analyzes sequences from 34-40 minutes and 45-47 minutes that metaphorically represent the director's situation under restrictions in Iran and provide hope despite feelings of being trapped. The analysis explores how the film blurs the line between fiction and reality.

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Arthur Lai
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52 views2 pages

This Is Not A Film Journal - Lai Cheuk Yin Arthur - 3035571486

The document discusses scenes from the film This is Not a Film that make the viewer question whether the film is scripted or a true documentary. It analyzes sequences from 34-40 minutes and 45-47 minutes that metaphorically represent the director's situation under restrictions in Iran and provide hope despite feelings of being trapped. The analysis explores how the film blurs the line between fiction and reality.

Uploaded by

Arthur Lai
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lai Cheuk Yin Arthur

3035571486
CLIT2007
This is Not a Film – one-page journal
There’re a few scenes from This is Not a Film that really gets me to think: is the film really
not scripted? Or are they scripted so realistically so that Jafar Panahi can sneak this film out
of Iran’s restrictions on him? And I find them fascinating because I have almost zero
experience in watching documentaries before, I don’t know is this a common practice to
create this “reality vs movie” feeling. Since at some point, you would think this is too much
of a coincidence to be the reality, or some dialogue is just too good to be true. I’m very
impressed by how this film blurs the line between a scripted film and a documentary and it
made me want to make one too.

I think from about 34 mins to 40 mins, there’s an amazing sequence, where Panahi was trying
to explain why explaining his banned movie script was impossible, by showing two slips
from his previous films. To me, this sequence here is very impactful because it basically
sums up the film and its background. We see a high angle medium shot of Panahi watching
the movie, and after watching one of the amateur actor’s performance in Crimson
Gold(2003), he stood up and explained that the actor’s improvisation, his facial expressions,
wasn’t written in the script. Then, Panahi watched another clip from The Circle(2000), where
a girl was shown running within a building with many vertical lines, almost like the girl was
in a “prison”, showing her anxiety and the sense of being trapped, in this clip the location sets
up the feeling of the scene, which can’t be shown just be “telling” the script. He went on to
explain how a movie can’t be explained by words, or predicted by a script, because actors
need the freedom to improvise in a scene, the director can’t control everything, also the
location will create a certain feeling visually, that can only be shown after the movie is made.

This might sounded like he’s explaining why he can’t explain the banned movie to the
camera at first, but he may also metaphorically talking about how Panahi needs the creative
freedom to make his movies in Iran, the director (government) will miss out a lot of
possibilities if he has too many restrictions when shooting a movie (ruling a country).
Without the freedom to improvise allowed by the director, the film can’t reach its full
potential. Iran also needs to judge the content of the script before a movie is being made,
Panahi might be also judging this method here by saying one cannot predict the final product
just by reading the script. The movie can only be explained or understood after it is made,
after seeing the performance of the actors, after seeing the feeling created by the locations.
This sequence of trying to “tell” the movie and then saying it’s not going to work may
actually be well-planned, for Panahi to metaphorically talk about Iran’s lack of freedom.

From 45 mins to 47 mins, Panahi was on a phone call, talking about how impossible it is to
change the court’s decision. While Panahi was listening, he’s also looking at the iguana. The
film intentionally intercuts Panahi’s phone call with the iguana, these shots can’t be shot at
the same time since the camera is still on Panahi. You can see the iguana moving up the
bookshelf, visually trapped by the lines of the shelf. I think the iguana may be symbolizng
Panahi in this situation, doomed to be banned from making movies for 20 years, like the
trapped iguana, but it kept moving up the bookshelf, and got an open space at the top of the
shelf. Still trapped, but it got a bit of open space. Like Panahi, he’s banned, but he somehow
finds a way to make this film, to say what he wants. At the end, he and the young man, met
the dog Panahi refused to take care again, a huge coincidence. And the young man talked
about his dreams, and we see him taking the trash outside the building, almost like joining the
protest outside, fighting for freedom. The film ends here with a lot of hope and hopelessness
at the same time, where does this feeling come from? Again, from the unexpected
Lai Cheuk Yin Arthur
3035571486
CLIT2007
This is Not a Film – one-page journal
performance of this young man, and the environment (final shot: Panahi is “behind bars”, but
outside you can see “Iran is on fire fighting for freedom”).

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