GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

rudi-16796 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.

Ricc0 Jafar Panahi is banned from making movies so he disguises as a taxi driver and makes one in a taxi cab. He didnot change his appearance of course but wore a hat and made a documentary-like film mostly while driving in the streets of the capital Tehran.Panahi used non professional actors to perform the scenes, so the acting was rather bad and didnot seem normal at all as Panahi intended. The dialogue was more like a speech with a lot of messages to the authorities.. It was not like anything written for a movie not even if it is considered a documentary. Panahi only gathered what Iran is criticized for and just made the non professional actors state them bluntly.Yes I am familiar with the situation he is in and saying it objectively: if you want to do something whether you are right or wrong do it properly. After all he was the Kiarostami's assistant (the director of close-up, one of the best movies I have ever seen).All in all the execution was weak with no creativity in it.. He failed to connect with the social and cultural realities of Iran and really failed to connect on the emotional level through the stories he made with the audience. I expected much more.

Tom Dooley Jafar Panahi has been making films for a while that have annoyed the Islamic Republic of Iran's authority- 'Offside' being my favourite. This has brought him a ban from making films. So he has made a film of him as a Taxi driver – not a very well informed driver by all accounts. He then drives around Tehran picking up customers and listening to their stories.In Tehran it seems that people often share a taxi and that results in some quite fiery exchanges where opinions differ. It seemed to me to be a bit obvious that these are actors. However, I have since found out they are all uncredited non professional actors – whose identity remains anonymous. It is what they say and the stories they tell that make this fascinating. By allowing them to speak he is peeling back the layers of Iranian society and exposing the control and corruption of a State that suppress all 'sordid reality' – a subject matter that is banned from 'distributable' films and 'heroes don't wear ties' but they d have Islamic names only.Jafar Panahl said at the Berlin Film Festival "Nothing can prevent me from making films since when being pushed to the ultimate corners I connect with my inner-self and, in such private spaces, despite all limitations; the necessity to create becomes even more of an urge."If he can make such a moving and thought provoking film under such restrictions then I can only wonder at the possible results were his abilities given free rein. If you want to learn from film as well as watch something unique then I am sure you will get a lot out of seeing this unusual film.

tributarystu Somewhere, in the corner of my mind, the information about Jafar Panahi's predicament was lying around unguarded. His 2010 jail sentence and twenty year ban from filmmaking were a result of what was deemed as propaganda against the Iranian government. Obviously, it has not hindered him in producing three movies since, all smuggled outside the country and released at the Cannes and Berlin festivals before receiving wider distribution. The story of the man is fascinating enough, but it is his artistic and humanistic sensibilities that make Taxi a memorable experience.Filmed via a number of small cameras, some fixed within the taxi itself, some carried around by other protagonists, the story sees Panahi acting as a cab driver and encountering pieces of the Iranian Weltanschauung. The irony of his position is highlighted as his first passenger criticizes his geographical orientation, noticing that something must have gone seriously wrong for Panahi in order for him to have to resort to something he has no clue about. And after a short argument between passengers about whether stealing the wheels off a car should warrant the death penalty or not, "just to send a message", you get the sense of how easily people become desensitized to such matters if only they are faced with them frequently enough. Paradoxically, the man suggesting this course of action is a "freelancer" himself, but more of a Robin Hood mold, which apparently should exempt him from a similar punishment. This contradiction between wrong and right is explored throughout the journey, as Panahi encounters a series of colourful characters: a man selling pirated international films (who actually recognizes the director and takes quick advantage of him), a woman weeping over her dying husband, two older women fighting for their lives, an old neighbour who had recently been the victim of a robbery, a woman suffering a similar fate of marginalization due to the her political views, and Panahi's niece, who is just being introduced to what "publishable films" are in Iran.Panahi strikes a fine balance between some more comical aspects of Iranian life and the very dire need for self expression, that is severely limited. The humanism that pervades Taxi poses the same question repeatedly: what causes crime and who is a criminal within Iranian society? Drawing from a well of personal experience, he manages to create an endearing context for all his protagonists and their tales and it feels like he is taking us by the hand and guiding us, not so much physically, as emotionally. His smile spreads these emotional cues, from affection to sympathy, confusion and intense discomfort, and this gives off the sensation of being joined by a friend throughout this journey.The worst that can be said is that the scripting of events does occasionally feel a bit heavy handed, in order to condense all the experience in what is ultimately a very short film. And while generally avoiding the lure of leaning too heavily on caricature, it ends on a slightly underwhelming artistic note. But those are all the complaints I have to make. I very much enjoyed Taxi and gathering from the vibe around me, so did many of the other people watching it. While I feel the focus should generally be on the art, more than on the artist, here's hoping that Panahi will have the chance to one day echo the affection he receives and generates in festival venues around the world, by having the freedom to openly appear alongside Iranian artists and their uncensored visions.