The Mirror

About halfway through, something happens that might be the most unexpected twist I've ever seen. It's beautifully, magically meta. Both halves are compelling despite (or because of) their simplicity, and the parallels between them add extra dimensions. Where the film falters a bit is in the transparency of its central device; it works beautifully at first, but here and there the cracks show. It doesn't have too much of a detrimental effect, though, it's still a wonderful, thought-provoking work.

Another interesting and engaging film from Panahi. He begins the film with the simple, slice of life story about a young girl trying to get home from school. But the unexpected twist halfway through creates an opportunity to engage the differences between narrative versus documentary filmmaking, offering both striking differences and surprising similarities.

kucuk kiz cocugunun okul cikisi kaybolmasi temali gercek zamanli islenen bi kesit. filmin ilk yarisinda cocuga acirken 2. yarisinda hafif sinir oluyoruz. panahi herhalde fark olmayan durumlarda insanlarda olusan celiskili duyguyu gostertirtmek istemis.

The scene where she just watches the passengers on the bus is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in a movie

02.17 Hobbit

a little girl is left alone in the sprawling city, but panahi is too smart to wring this problem for a miserablist sermon. instead we have a comedic city symphony for tehran in its many guises, less concerned with judgement than playfully exploring the borders between reality and performance in iranian society. it absolutely bustles with panahi's signature warm, wry jokes if you're looking for them, with a classic iranian mid-film metatextual fissure which improbably enhances the immersion.

Starts off as a simple yet totally effective story of a little girl trying to get home only to veer unexpectedly into a rather brilliant meta experiment that eventually loses some of its initial appeal as the film trudges somewhat laboriously towards its seemingly endlessly deferred ending. I enjoyed this quite a lot, but both halves don't coalesce as much as I think Panahi intended. Mina is genuinely talented, though.

A wonderful and really enjoyable film to watch, mainly because the main girl here is so adorable, yet simultaneously whiny (in a way that's fun to watch) -- she should be though, given how many problems she comes across whilst just trying to get home. The "break" in the middle of the film is fun, though I was astonished at how little it actually disrupted the flow of the narrative, as well as the film's socially-minded voyeuristic style. For a film this small, it's surprisingly rich.

Relatively late on the scene, as deconstructionism prevailed in Iranian art cinema throughout the 1990's, most notably in films by Makhmalbaf and Kiarostami (for the latter, Panahi had worked as a crew member), The Mirror is nevertheless an interesting and even lyrical experiment in 4th-wall demolition.

The first half is a bit ponderous and aimless, but the twist at that halfway point renders the rest of the film endlessly captivating.