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'Bears do not exist': I do not understand the cinema of the persecuted Jafar Panahi

2023-06-02T10:44:39.482Z

Highlights: Jafar Panahi was sentenced to five years of house arrest, he is not allowed to leave the country. He has very complicated or impossible to work in his profession, which consists of shooting films. With Bears Don't Exist, the same thing still happens to me. The argument is meant to be complex, but I find it confusing. Anodyne at times. And tedious realization. But I try not to confuse art with good intentions. May Panahi regain his freedom. Luckily we have the great cinema of always.


It has a lot of merit the tenacity to survive, when his cornering is permanent, of this director, but I do not catch him the grace or enter his particular universe


There is much merit in the tenacity to survive, when his cornering is permanent, of an Iranian director named Jafar Panahi. The bearded Nazis who control the country with blood and fire and make life impossible for dissidents, for women who claim incontestable rights, for all those who do not want to bow their heads and dare to challenge power, are risking everything, including their heads. Panahi was sentenced to five years of house arrest, he is not allowed to leave the country, he has very complicated or impossible to work in his profession, which consists of shooting films.

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It is obvious that you regret and are outraged by his personal situation, that anyone with two fingers of forehead and a little of heart celebrates that his isolation, his condition of stinking, that they leave him in peace after such a long ordeal. In recent times it has managed to give birth with minimal resources The bears do not exist, usingthe border, narrating two parallel stories at the same time that have much in common, although they take place in Turkey and in a village in Iran. And its authorship is total. He writes, produces, directs and stars in it. He has received sweet awards at festivals and multiple critical acclaim.

Despite my lack of sensitivity to appreciate the beauty and originality of Iranian cinema, hyperpromoted for a long time and a regular attendee at festivals, there is a director who always interests me. It is Asghar Farhadi, author of the masterful Nader and Simin, a separation. Nor have I ever managed to connect with the cinema of Jafar Panahi. I do not catch the grace or enter his particular universe, with which other viewers enjoy so much. With Bears Don't Exist, the same thing still happens to me. The argument is meant to be complex, but I find it confusing. Anodyne at times. And tedious realization. And I would like the opposite, thinking about the very harsh circumstances suffered by its author. But I try not to confuse art with good intentions. May Panahi regain his freedom. But his cinema, so personal to him, does not cause me any unforgettable sensation.

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Read the film reviews

Before a drought that looks endless (I only keep in my retina and in my memory of the last months or years the beautiful The Eight Mountains and A Beautiful Morning) I will see the revival in the cinema, in a large room, in the dark, a remastered version in 4K of Raging Bull. That is, the best vision and hearing of a masterpiece in the natural setting. I know it plane by plane, also its dialogues, I am hypnotized every time I return to it. The filming of the boxing sequences provokes fear and fascination, they have a physicality and violence that do harm. And you can not take your eyes off its unpleasant protagonist, that Jake La Motta specialized in fucking his life, paranoid, jealous, suspicious, abusive, on the edge or immersed in his inner darkness, in progressive self-destruction despite having managed to be champion, have a family and a comfortable life, losing his dedicated and faithful brother, losing everything, making parodies of his own character in some shabby club to continue shooting. De Niro is prodigious playing someone who has sick soul and head, who brushed heaven and ended up inhabiting hell. Luckily we have the great cinema of always.

Bears don't exist

Address: Jafar Panahi.

Interpreters: Jafar Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobasheri, Mina Kavani.

Genre: drama. Iran, 2022.

Duration: 106 minutes.

Premiere: June 2.


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Source: elparis

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