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Reviews
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)
Entertaining, nothing too substantial.
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear is one of the first parodies I have seen. I just started barely dabbling in the parody realm, therefore there's not much I can compare this film to. The film was well castes, every character is believable, putting aside their charisma. The jokes are intentionally forced at time, some would go on a bit longer than they needed to be. I would say most laughs the Zucker brothers are trying to get out of the audience are short ones. Nothing too substantial to the plot, that I would have to agree with Roger Ebert on that one. Over all quite entertaining, but it's not a film of terrible spectacle.
The President (2014)
Mohsen Makhmalbaf's 'The President' is a golden sociopolitical commentary piece that utilizes cinematography and satire to achieve his thesis.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf's 'The President' is a golden sociopolitical commentary piece that utilizes cinematography and satire to achieve his thesis. The film is beautifully written with touches of cultural realism coming from Makhmalbaf's Iranian background. The film follows the journey of a dictator, from an adored totalitarianism figure to a fallen, wanted man. The story is unforgettable and shocking, it starts a conversation on the fate of dictatorship, with an unexpected ending that leaves you thinking. The ending of the film is haunting, it is somewhat horrific in the sense that it represents humanity in its most brutal form, but more so, the ending was uncertain. Makhmalbaf comments on political dictatorship through 'The President,' but he does not force a view on the audience. This film allows the space for individual interpretations and opinions. This is a must watch. It is also evident that Makhmalbaf's stylistic choices shift significantly from his 1992 film 'Once Upon A Time, Cinema' where censorship and retraction were enforced on his production, to 'The President' where the entire film was shot in Georgia with less governmental guidelines. His style for films changes, and therefore structurally progressed. Both films, though stylistically different, are monumental films that present Makhmalbaf as an auteur.
Nassereddin Shah, Actor-e Cinema (1992)
Makhmalbaf's pioneering film: criticism on government censorship over cinema
This is an artistically productive film with an agenda that is cleverly concealed thorough symbolic metaphors depicting the censorship surrounding cinema and art production during post revolution Iran. Makhmalbaf uses film archives intertwined with original shootings to create a dance that reflects on the film industry and Iranian governmental oppression on it. Very poetic, hilarious at times, but nevertheless weights a ton.