A Moment of Innocence

Like Close-Up, this recreates a scene from Makhmalbaf's life, and it's even more brilliant in its execution. What results is a deceptively simple treatise on memory, regret, truth, perception, idealism, filmmaking and politics. There are some truly astonishing surprises in the story and in the telling of the story. Most startling and moving of all is the freeze-frame ending, a rewriting of history as desired by the actors themselves. And it's done with a light touch, often delightfully comic.

Fascinating, playful and deeply human. Ostensibly a documentary about an event 20 years past in the director's life,it becomes more than that as it explores the emotional connections of the key players to that event as well as their slightly different memories and perspectives of it. It's also interesting to see the reaction of the three young leads to their roles as they struggle to connect to the events and emotions of another time and person. The ending's a perfect summary of the film's theme

If I were ever to make a list of all-time great final shots, this would be on there. Just beautiful.

A sweet, lyrical, and surprisingly funny film, with an absolutely perfect final shot. In other words, it's Iranian New Wave.

Of all the things I expected from an Iranian film, this somewhat comical meta-movie was not it. It's very interesting, and it's incredibly well done and woven together in a brilliant way. Intriguing, fascinating and a joy to watch, even though it feels like it's falling apart a bit further into the film it's like a puzzle very well put together.

Another fourth wall shattered as had been the trend in 90's Iranian cinema. Some of it is nice but there's just not enough substance here for a feature, and eventually it just rambles. Salaam Cinema does some of the same things better, so to the casual viewer I'd say watch that instead. The good thing about this one is that it shows you some Iranian urban scenery.

I haven't seen a ton of Iranian film, but it's interesting how much of it (or at least the stuff that's most critically acclaimed) deals specifically with kind of meta movies. It's an interesting film, but I always find these a little tough to tell what's real and what's staged, which is certainly part of the point, but it hurts my enjoyment of them sometimes.

01.17 Hobbit

Um Instante de Inocência estreava há 25 anos no Festival de Locarno. Tem a mesma pegada reconstrutiva mockumental de Close-up, mas com uma pegada jovem, quem direi que o jovem Makhmalbaf era um punk idealista anarquista. FUCK THE POLICE. DVDRip no MakingOff.

this film inspires me more than any film in a long time, makhmalbaf has rare artistic sensibility

A bit of a headfuck, especially the way it starts mixing reality and film. Very playful with its filmmaking, though I'm wondering if it ends up obscuring some of the film's more interesting aspects, especially to do with this rather emotionally resonating and slightly poetic story involving the policeman. The filmic treatment of this story is very reiterative and cinematically meditative, which will either annoy or enthrall cinephiles (it did the latter for me).

best movie

The final sequence is killer. Unfortunately, the film feels a bit too slackly paced even at a modest 74 minutes.

Et av de klareste og mest utradisjonelle mesterverkene jeg vet om. Kan man endre historien gjennom kunsten? Er vi mennesker dømt til å gå i våre forfedres feller gang på gang? At en slik film skulle komme fra Iran og behandle temaet på en så subtil og gjennomgripende måte hadde jeg aldri forventet. En film jeg vil alle skal se, helt unik i filmverdenen.

33. İstanbul Film Festivali - Atlas Sineması: Bilgiçlik taslamadan sinemanın doğasına, sinemada gerçeğin temsiline dair çok derin fikirler barındırıyor bünyesinde. Bir de filmin adının karşılığı finalindeki o karenin naifliği...

Iran devrimini hazirlayan bireysel zihin ve tutum degisikliklerini sosyolojik bir dille anlatan Masumiyet Ani basarili bir film sayilir: zamanin orf, adet ve karakteristiklerde meydanan getirdigi degisiklik, kadin - erkek iliskilerinin buna bagli olarak yeniden boyutlanmasi ekseninde izlenebilir...

#459

Very clever, funny, moving: an all-around lovely film that, much like the slightly better Close-Up, shows how film-about-film and meta-narrative need not be mere navel-gazing or 'cold' filmmaking/writing. Also a truly wonderful ending scene.

"Resonates heavy with the Proustian understanding of how memories only amplify and enrich with time." - Eric Henderson

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# 564

A brilliant meditation on memory, violence, perspective, and youth. While attempting to make a film about his memories of a key event in his life, Makhmalbaf gives us much more: a way forward from the shameful past. In this, the film feels like an act of discovery on the director's part, an act that's freshness and vitality has not waned in more than a decade since its release. From the midst of a still-oppressive society, the film offers a universal response to oppression.

Very interesting and unusual.