Interesteg What makes it different from others?

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

atha-lucas If you love film you must see this. This movie makes the case for, not only the importance of film, but the importance of expression. All I have done with my life is watch movies. As time went on films started to lose euphoric passion, to me. Then as I browsed the library shelves my eye caught the title of this movie, I was intrigued. So I took it home and without a pause I just sat down and watched it. I had homework and a seven page essay on East of Eden the next day but those came second when the film grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into a place, emotionally, deeper than I had ever been before. This was the film that rekindled the love affair I had with film, and has been a driving force in my life. When I talk to anyone about movies I always recommend this film.

mjcfoxx The first 10-20 minutes of this left me feeling sleepy. A filmmaker, unable to film because of his politics, films anyway, out of boredom. He has a script that was rejected by the government and he decides to act it out for his friend. However, he can't. It feels banal to him. It feels forced. He wants truth and it takes a long time to shirk your sense of self-consciousness when there's a camera in front of you.He puts in movies and shows his friend his favorite scenes, all the why standing by the phone, hoping to hear word on his appeal. It could take months before he knows something, although he is almost certainly going to jail. On the television, Japan is being crushed by a tsunami. On the streets, it is Fireworks Wednesday, a day the leadership in Iran has already said must end because it's not a religious holiday. A friend on the phone wants him to join him out on the street to watch the fireworks, but has to get off the phone because he's hit a checkpoint. He calls back a few minute later. It's okay, he said. They just looked at my camera. Anyway, this is Iran. At the moment, it feels we're in far greater danger of becoming like Iran than Iran is of becoming anything like us.

Tejas Nair At a native festival, this I hear was smuggled from Iran. Well after watching this, I had a totally bad, negative feeling. It is absolutely right that THIS IS NOT A FILM! Because it doesn't entertain!Thank God, it is around 70 minutes or else I would've starved to death. The documentary starts intriguing but to the middle, it bores you to death. But, if you take out some courage to complete it, you will be startled to find out how an enemy of the state is regarded/brandished in Iran.I loved the subject and my 4 stars go for the direction, story and the cause of house arrest in Iran. But if we consider other elements of film-making, this is a no-brainer. I will not comform with what the usual critics have to say about the causal topic, but I personally believe that a documentary should be as entertaining, informative (which this was) and enjoyable as a film!Bottom line: A must watch... a single time!Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YESLanguage: No | Sex: No | Violence: Very Mild

JvH48 I saw "This Is Not A Film" as part of the Ghent filmfestival 2011. Originally the film "Absolutely Tame Is A Horse" of the same director was scheduled. It had to be replaced in the last minute, due to an export ban on the film itself, plus the Iranian distributor loosing his license.Nearly all 75 minutes that the replacement film takes, are shot within the apartment of the director in question. He is not allowed to make films, but nowhere was forbidden to read a screenplay aloud. On the other hand, as correctly noted by the camera man, recording this reading might still be considered film making. Hence he named this film "This Is Not A film", which may or may not help to evade the issue.There were fireworks, which we saw announced on TV as non-religious, a different word for Not Allowed. Yet we clearly saw and heard fireworks on several places spread over the neighborhood. Could this be construed as some not-so-silent protest?? We felt a volatile atmosphere around these fireworks, albeit in an indirect way, because everyone seemed worried about their kids and relatives coming home in time. Moreover, when he was talking on the phone with a colleague who was underway, the latter had to discontinue abruptly when stopped by the police. This very apparently was cause for alarm. Later on he phoned back, and reassured us that the police only wanted to check his camera, lying unused on the passenger seat. All such signals combined clearly demonstrated an atmosphere of suppression and fear for the police.I was prejudiced by some reviews I've read, describing this not-a-film as a bit boring. Having seen it, I found that too harsh. It may apply to the elevator scene, but that was neatly broken up in small scenes providing for some diversion. Within the apartment, a nice intermezzo was created by a pet lizard. It was being fed in the beginning, and then disappeared out of sight for a while. Later on we saw it crawling over our main character (complaining about its sharp nails) and over the couch, to eventually find a resting place in the bookshelves.Throughout the film I was surprised that someone convicted for 6 years in prison, and a ban to make films for 20 years, was not locked up, but instead having some house arrest while awaiting an appeal. It clearly shows that I know nothing about the Iranian judicial system. Especially, as we learned from a phone call with his attorney, that his conviction was not on a legal basis, but on political grounds only. The latter is a concept very alien to us.All in all, this not-a-film gave a limited inside view in a country we only know from newspapers. It was also a revealing inside view in an Iranian apartment, larger and better equipped than I had assumed beforehand. We can only speculate how he pays for all this, given the ban on his regular work. It shows (again) how little we know about Iran. My final conclusion is that I did not regret keeping my tickets for this not-a-film, though I was entitled for a substitute at choice out of the festival program.