Cinema Rex - Iranian Cinema Podcast
Jul 9, 2026 · 1 hr 54 min · 10 segments
The true story of Hossain Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonated the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to convince a family they would star in his so-called new film. Written and Directed by Abbas…
Tara AghdashlooGuest
Kaveh MohebbiHost
Faran MoradiHost
All the people who were from the village that Sabzya knew, they called the film Kelozop.
Literally, if you spell it like K-E-L-O-Z-Z-O-P, and they constantly called the film Kelozop.
And at one point, the filmmaker asked, what do you think Kelozop means? And they're like, I'm pretty sure it refers to dirtiness, like dirty water, like stagnant water that's just sitting around.
funny.
they don't
So with that, no more further ado, without wasting another moment, Tara, what do you think of Close Up? Dive into it.
I think the best way to give you my first reaction is my reaction to this log line.
One of the, you know, like it kind of sounds cool and interesting and a little bit of a thriller and controversial that it's based on a real story.
And there is even this concealment of the moment when the reporter who's been kind of who's broken this news arrives at the house of this sort of well-meaning family.
And you're kind of going on these loops, you know, so you kind of start there, then you go back, you know, you see Kiarostami meet Sabzian, but then you go.
And I think this is also the beginning of Kiarostami himself playing with this, playing with form in such a confident way.
And I really think it is the genius of this film is its structure, as well as many other things.
All the people who were from the village that Sabzya knew, they called the film Kelozop.
Literally, if you spell it like K-E-L-O-Z-Z-O-P, and they constantly called the film Kelozop.
And at one point, the filmmaker asked, what do you think Kelozop means? And they're like, I'm pretty sure it refers to dirtiness, like dirty water, like stagnant water that's just sitting around.
funny.
they don't
So with that, no more further ado, without wasting another moment, Tara, what do you think of Close Up? Dive into it.
I think the best way to give you my first reaction is my reaction to this log line.
One of the, you know, like it kind of sounds cool and interesting and a little bit of a thriller and controversial that it's based on a real story.
And there is even this concealment of the moment when the reporter who's been kind of who's broken this news arrives at the house of this sort of well-meaning family.
And you're kind of going on these loops, you know, so you kind of start there, then you go back, you know, you see Kiarostami meet Sabzian, but then you go.
And I think this is also the beginning of Kiarostami himself playing with this, playing with form in such a confident way.
And I really think it is the genius of this film is its structure, as well as many other things.
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