★★★☆☆ Pushing Iranian cinema into a new stratosphere, Vahid Vakilifar's Taboor (2012) is a bleak and meditative study of a society rotting from the inside out. Vakilifar takes us through the streets of Tehran, charting the nocturnal activities of an enigmatic man (Mohammad Rabbanipour) clad in a tinfoil suit that protects his hypersensitive body from harmful microwaves. Eerily claustrophobic, Taboor takes the narrative framework of science-fiction and strips it of the spectacle and grandeur normally associated with the genre. Clad entirely in foil, the film opens in a small trailer that's currently our protagonist's make-shift home.
It's here that we witness the man's ritualistic preparations for his evenings of work as a pest control operative across a myriad of contrasting locations. He appears to be eradicating the city of cockroaches, yet his nighttime excursion also lead him to other, more surreal destinations: a ride on a 5D simulator at a local...
It's here that we witness the man's ritualistic preparations for his evenings of work as a pest control operative across a myriad of contrasting locations. He appears to be eradicating the city of cockroaches, yet his nighttime excursion also lead him to other, more surreal destinations: a ride on a 5D simulator at a local...
- 6/21/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
A man (Mohammad Rabbanipour) who lives in a rectangular room wallpapered in aluminum foil gets dressed in an aluminum foil jumpsuit before he begins his day. He hops on a motorbike and heads towards the city. Along the way, the man rides his bike through a long tunnel. This is the first hint of writer-director Vahid Vakilifar's fondness for the journey, as a majority of this nearly silent film focuses on the man's passage from point "A" to point "B"; whether it be a road, hallway, staircase or simulated mine shaft rollercoaster ride, Vakilifar allows these extended scenes to play out in real-time. If there is a reason -- beyond the sheer absurdity of the unbridled mundanity -- it probably has something to do with the passing of time. The most pure example of "slow cinema" that I can think of, we connect with the man and his world...
- 4/26/2013
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
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