“Closed Curtain” screened as part of the Chicago International Film Festival, where it had its American debut. This early review is just an impression from the festival. The film does not yet have an American release date.
“Closed Curtain” starts with a stark reminder that its director, the Iranian Jafar Panahi, is still under house arrest by the Iranian government and banned from making films. His first under these conditions was the critically acclaimed “This is Not a Film.” This is a film however, and it’s a strange hybrid of fantasy and documentary that, with the strenuous nature of its making, collapses under the weight of being so meta.
The opening shot is an extended take of the camera facing out a barred window. It sits there as though it’s just recording whatever may pass by, and over agonizing minutes, we see a man pull up in a car, take a bag out and carry it all the way inside the house. He has just smuggled a dog into the home, but the man is not Jafar Panahi.
He’s a writer (Kambuzia Partovi), and he’s illegally harboring this dog in his home, covering up the windows with black curtains to hide that he has it. But one night as he is cleaning out the dog’s litter box, two refugees find his way into his home. One goes to look for help while the other, a young woman named Melika (Maryam Moqadam), remains and causes the writer unnecessary stress. Continue reading “CIFF Review: Closed Curtain”