“Taxi Tehran”, D: Jafar Panahi, S: Jafar Panahi, C: Jafar Panahi, C: Jafar Panahi, etc.

The silent sinking despair behind every glimpse and flicker of a smile in “Taxi Tehran” makes every second of its mere 82 minutes count twice as much as in other films. The mere fact that we have been blessed with access to Jafar Panahi’s latest works is a miracle as he has been banned from filmmaking and leaving Iran. It must have taken an unimaginable amount of self-control and patience to remain so refrained, keep the consistent pace and focus on building intricate metaphors when all any other human being would want to do is to scream “injustice” from the rooftops. That is why the backdrop of contemporary authoritarian Iran never weighs down Jafar Panahi’s films but gives them wings.

In “Taxi Tehran”, Jafar Panahi is a taxi driver whose clients form a cross-section of the society. The taxi becomes a backdrop for a medley of stories told by a crook, teacher, contraband film merchant, superstitious ladies with a fish bowl, “anti-government” lawyer and Panahi’s own marvellously bustling niece Hana Saeidi. All the stories comment on the practice of filmmaking and the peril inflicted on the Iranian people by the government. The metaphors and references are, however, very subtle and smart rather than loud and hysterical which makes the realisation of the life the characters are leading ever more scathing. Panahi’s contemporary “Canterbury Tales” is a testament of unfathomable patience and unquenchable thirst for filmmaking which will eat you up from the inside.