Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

abbassmaanna This film is not for CGI fans , not to watch and forget but rather watch and keep haunted by its effect after its end.The end, which is the start instead. Close-up is such an amazing document-fiction movie.Fans of this kind of movies will drown in the intimate scenes, filled with the soul of humanity, love, honesty and lots, lots of heart talk. It talks about the passion of Sabzian for cinema in which he plagiarizes the character of a famous Iranian director, in order to make his living.Such a deep, overwhelming movie that will stay a sweet memory to me from the sweetest friend I've ever met.

valbrazon I've just finished "Nema-ye Nazdik" (Close-up) and i LOVED it. It's about the trial of a man who impersonate the identity of Mohsen Makhmalbaf to a family. Hossain Sabzian is the protagonist and he played the role in a very good way. He tell honestly what he did and assumes as he has done something bad, which is different than clichés as we can see on others movies like "I'm innocent, i didn't do anything".It's also a movie about cinema, the names of Makhmalbaf movies are mentioned many times like "Bicycleran" (The Cyclist) and "Arousi-ye Khouban" (Marriage of the Blessed). The movie title is also a reference to the cinema because a "close-up" it's a type of shot, the director who wants to make a film about the trial of Hossain Sabzian shoot him in close-up.

Atavisten This is something of a mixed movie, it's a fictionalized documentary or maybe the other way around? I don't grasp how this movie came into being, but for sure it's a beautiful moment in movie history. A guy is impersonating famous Iranian movie director Mohsen Makmalbaf when given a chance to do so on a bus-ride. He plays the game too far though and ends up in court suspected for fraud. This is based on a real story and Abbas Kiarostami got unto this quite early on.The strength here is the way you get to sympathize with the impersonator given his background, lack of future prospects and general innocence. Besides his crime is very minor.

FilmCriticLalitRao One close look at the history of cinema will tell that some of the great films have been made using everyday events as background.This is done in order to include a certain dose of creativity in scenario.This is also the case of Iranian film Nemaye Nazdik (Close Up) based on a famous incident of impersonation involving great Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf.If we believe that cinema is like magic and its actors and actress are like stars,we must also be ready to face the negative consequences of the so called star status of cinema's luminaries.There are many admirers who do not understand the detrimental consequences of their actions when they try to imitate what is fiction.Close Up talks of one such case involving a poor Iranian man named Ali Sabzian who deceives a lady by stating that he would like to shoot in her house as he is famous Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf.His deceit is exposed and he is imprisoned.All this might appear as a simple tale to layman but in reality "Close Up" is more complex than one can think.It is a film which challenges our notions of cinema and reality,truth or falsehood.As these concepts are subjective in nature,it is better if viewers are left to draw their own conclusions after having seen the film.One of the greatest scenes from "Close Up" shows Ali Sabzian (as he is sobbing uncontrollably) being comforted by great Mohsen Makhmalbaf.This is the most perfect example of how reality meets reality.