I watched Close-Up for the first time a couple of months ago and I still can't stop thinking about it, so I decided to search what Mr. Sabzian has been doing since then. Unfortunately, that's when I read about his passing in 2006. This is some great footage of him. Such a soft spoken and enigmatic figure and a true lover of cinema; what a shame that he was unable to realize his dream of being a director.
This is the first comment ever I'm making on TH-cam, or on a stranger's work/post on any social media platform for that matter, which goes to say how revolting watching your take on Mr. Sabzian's "self-centeredness" felt to me. Indeed the question he implies at is the question other directors asked themselves and Kiarostami, just like he mentioned. And it is a very simple and obvious one, an human one, for how can you see a man like him, back in 1990 - who retells in "Close-up", that in one of the days he hadn't had lunch and was hungry, because he had no money, so he hoped Ms. Ahankhah would invite him to their house for lunch - and not feel compassionate and not want to help him if you can. Like an animal he's just to observe but not interfere with? The fact that Kiarostami, like Sabzian mentioned, wouldn't answer the question of where he left him after the ride with Makhmalbaf speaks for itself, not to mention the fakeness of his assertation that all actors are part of his life when, in fact, at least with Sabzian and Babek from "Where's the friend's house", he used them in his films and never cared for them again. To watch someone like you, probably young from the sound of your voice - although age has nothing to with this, because one doesn't need to be old to have respect for others, to be able to put himself in someone else's shoes, to be considerate of people's situations and feelings - give Mr. Sabzian a lesson on how maybe he was self-centered and had egotic expectations disgusted me to my core. How could this seem reasonable to you? How could you bear his ensuing look of sadness as if he had been reprimanded, which he was! for bringing up the question that every reasonable person asks themself after watching this film, he, of all the people, who could have been way more revolted and angry with the whole situation. Most of all, how could you say this bit of depravity to someone who had never concretized his dream, who never had his interests considered or, just like he says in Close-up (which by now I doubt you've watched), someone of who's suffering nobody ever wants to hear about. I shall cite it all: "If you accept that you are self-centered maybe you have to also accept that if you have any expectations from Mr Kiarostami it's because of your ego. Maybe you just think about your own benefits and consider your own personal interests. And not try to understand that Mr Kiarostami's situation. And don't try to understand that Mr Kiarostami is a director, that he's following his own life path" - This isn't just cruel and untrue but just plain out sick. What benefits and interests did Kiarostami take into account when he was making Close-up beside his own? And if you think that being a director is about following his own life path, dismissing others as one pleases then you really don't know anything about cinema (wich was already obvious by the dreadful footage), much less about life. I'm judging you based on your commentary solely but really, it is so absurd and again, sick, that I'll take the risk of generalizing: I really hope people like you change their minds and are somehow able to review their beliefs. A world where someone thinks what you thought and says what you said to Mr. Sabzian is a twisted one, where people have rid themselves of what should be basic pillars of humanity - solidarity and compassion. I won't delve deep in the main topic here (although I'll happily discuss it with you), which is class. Sabzian was poor and that determined his life and work, the only freedom he afforded being to tirelessly study cinema. At last, I prompt you, just like Mr Sabzian wanted to prompt the Ahankhah family in Close-up, "Change your mentality".
I watched Close-Up for the first time a couple of months ago and I still can't stop thinking about it, so I decided to search what Mr. Sabzian has been doing since then. Unfortunately, that's when I read about his passing in 2006. This is some great footage of him. Such a soft spoken and enigmatic figure and a true lover of cinema; what a shame that he was unable to realize his dream of being a director.
This is the first comment ever I'm making on TH-cam, or on a stranger's work/post on any social media platform for that matter, which goes to say how revolting watching your take on Mr. Sabzian's "self-centeredness" felt to me.
Indeed the question he implies at is the question other directors asked themselves and Kiarostami, just like he mentioned. And it is a very simple and obvious one, an human one, for how can you see a man like him, back in 1990 - who retells in "Close-up", that in one of the days he hadn't had lunch and was hungry, because he had no money, so he hoped Ms. Ahankhah would invite him to their house for lunch - and not feel compassionate and not want to help him if you can. Like an animal he's just to observe but not interfere with? The fact that Kiarostami, like Sabzian mentioned, wouldn't answer the question of where he left him after the ride with Makhmalbaf speaks for itself, not to mention the fakeness of his assertation that all actors are part of his life when, in fact, at least with Sabzian and Babek from "Where's the friend's house", he used them in his films and never cared for them again.
To watch someone like you, probably young from the sound of your voice - although age has nothing to with this, because one doesn't need to be old to have respect for others, to be able to put himself in someone else's shoes, to be considerate of people's situations and feelings - give Mr. Sabzian a lesson on how maybe he was self-centered and had egotic expectations disgusted me to my core. How could this seem reasonable to you? How could you bear his ensuing look of sadness as if he had been reprimanded, which he was! for bringing up the question that every reasonable person asks themself after watching this film, he, of all the people, who could have been way more revolted and angry with the whole situation. Most of all, how could you say this bit of depravity to someone who had never concretized his dream, who never had his interests considered or, just like he says in Close-up (which by now I doubt you've watched), someone of who's suffering nobody ever wants to hear about.
I shall cite it all: "If you accept that you are self-centered maybe you have to also accept that if you have any expectations from Mr Kiarostami it's because of your ego. Maybe you just think about your own benefits and consider your own personal interests. And not try to understand that Mr Kiarostami's situation. And don't try to understand that Mr Kiarostami is a director, that he's following his own life path" - This isn't just cruel and untrue but just plain out sick.
What benefits and interests did Kiarostami take into account when he was making Close-up beside his own? And if you think that being a director is about following his own life path, dismissing others as one pleases then you really don't know anything about cinema (wich was already obvious by the dreadful footage), much less about life. I'm judging you based on your commentary solely but really, it is so absurd and again, sick, that I'll take the risk of generalizing: I really hope people like you change their minds and are somehow able to review their beliefs. A world where someone thinks what you thought and says what you said to Mr. Sabzian is a twisted one, where people have rid themselves of what should be basic pillars of humanity - solidarity and compassion. I won't delve deep in the main topic here (although I'll happily discuss it with you), which is class. Sabzian was poor and that determined his life and work, the only freedom he afforded being to tirelessly study cinema. At last, I prompt you, just like Mr Sabzian wanted to prompt the Ahankhah family in Close-up, "Change your mentality".
It hurt a bit to hear him voice his lingering resentment for Kiarostami