FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Jafar Panahi - Taxi Teheran 

In Iran, director Jafar Panahi is forbidden to make films and according to the latest news, he has now even been arrested. In the past, courage and pure necessity were the driving forces behind his work. Since 2010, there has been no way for him to get the technical equipment for a shoot. That is why today he uses his iPhone and a video home equipment. Three films were made this way. Taxi is the third and unfortunately also the worst. The title sets the scene. The film was shot inside a taxi in Tehran. Some cameras were installed in the vehicle (one points outside and captures life on the streets), behind the wheel is Panahi himself. The experiment is whether the passengers recognise him and how they react to him. We see an advocate of the death penalty, a teacher arguing with Panahi about justice or a DVD dealer who wants to win Panahi as a partner. Some passages are staged, others are not. Suddenly we realise that an angry passenger is reciting from a Panahi film. But the experiment seems more frustrating than provocative. Above all, Taxi is a bit self-indulgent. Some of the characters are all too pointed in their function of social criticism (staged or not?). What I haven't mentioned yet, from my perspective of wanting to be entertained, is the respect that a film like Taxi could be made at all.