Acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi drives a cab through the streets of Teheran. The changing passengers speak out openly what is on their mind. A female teacher and a young man discuss death penalty, a bootlegger offers the new season of "The Walking Dead" and some Woody Allen movies, two old women want to transport their goldfish in a glass bowl to a holy place, a young woman wants to transport her much older husband who has been injured in an accident, and a cheeky little girl explains the rules of Iranian filmmaking and her entitlement to a frappuccino.

A highly emotionally satisfying miniature. On the surface it feels small and funny, but underneath it is seething in anger and defiance at the Iranian government. One of the stuff that makes the movie so unusual is that it is so difficult to pinpoint whether everything is planned or caught in the spur of the moment. Especially the final scene which kept my mind wondering. I really like this a lot. More so when I found out about the sad state of affairs for Jafar Panahi. He is actually banned from making movies for 20 years because he was deemed to have crossed the "sordid realism" line drawn by the Iranian government. How he subtly pokes fun at the authorities is hilarious and yet warm. The whole 80+ min film feels like a window into another world, a world not unlike ours, especially when Eric Khoo's most recent film is deemed "unscreenable". One of the most important films I have seen this year. Now I feel like hunting down The White Balloon, Closed Curtains and This Is Not a Film.

"Taxi" or "Teheran Taxi" is an 80-minute movie from Iran this year. Anybody who has a bit of interest into cinema from that country/region, will definitely have heard about Jafar Panahi, an Iranian filmmaker who received honors all over the world, but was put into prison and under arrest in his home country. The only other work I have seen from him is "Offside", a movie about a couple young woman who want to watch a football game in the stadium, which is, of course, not allowed for women in Iran.

Panahi is also prohibited from making movies, but as you see from this one here, that won't stop him. Basically, the whole thing is scripted, even if Panahi plays himself here and poses as a taxi driver because he is not allowed to make movies. Several of his friends appear in this movie. We see a motorbike crash, a couple old women transporting goldfish, Panahi's niece, a friend of him who got mugged etc. Sometimes the fine line between reality and fiction vanishes, but that's not a problem at all if you cannot be 100% sure what is going on. Funny also how the guy who sells "Walking Dead", "Big Bang Theory" etc. accuses Panahi of making a movie in his car and that the other passengers were paid actors with him being an actor himself in fact.

I must say there were no real edge-of-seat moments in this one, but it was a decent watch from start to finish. The closest to greatness was possibly the scene with the girl trying to convince the boy to give back the money. It shows us that justice is not lost in the country, but it takes a lot to overcome your demons. I also liked the ending, not only because of the reference to the start, but also because it's actually a pair of criminals who keep this film from running any longer. The irony with the Iranian governments strict policy on Panahi and his works is obvious. And of course, Panahi and his niece get punished the very moment they try to do something good, i.e. bring back the purse to the old ladies. As a whole, I recommend this movie. There is no real greatness in here in terms of the plot, but the background story and filming conditions are the real heart and soul of the movie and also the reason why this one won quite a few awards, especially here in Berlin. Finally, it was nice to see Panahi healthy and in fairly good shape and spirit, after all he had to go through. Recommended.

If you're not aware of the situation: The director and Taxi driver of this movie was banned of making films or rather write them. Which is why he found a loophole making movies inside a close environment. His last one played inside a house the entire time. So the director of a great movie like "Offside" was too critical for the Iranian government. Or maybe they were missing the song and dance numbers.

On a more serious note: This is of course unacceptable and you can laud the fact that he won't let anybody hold him down. His creative vein will not seize to make things happen. So while I also applaud this and like the episodic structure of what happens in Iran, as a sociological study (if you want to call it that),it's still a drag at times and obvious in its containment.