MesmeroWatch list, 0 saved

Movie
Poster for Close-Up

Close-Up

1990 · 98 min

A quiet, layered docufiction that blurs reality and performance, inviting patient reflection on identity and the movies we love.

Directed by
Abbas Kiarostami
Genres
Crime, Drama
Starring
Hossain Sabzian, Monoochehr Ahankhah, Mahrokh Ahankhah
Tagline
A real-life situation based on a real incident in actual locations with actual people involved.
Overview
This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event—the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated the well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf—as the basis for a stunning, multilayered investigation into movies, identity, artistic creation, and existence, in which the real people from the case play themselves.

Your rating is saved. See your suggestions, or find titles like this one below.

Rate it, and Mesmero finds titles that feel like it. You do not need an account.

Search YouTube for a trailer

In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Abbas Kiarostami
Genres
Crime, Drama
Starring
Hossain Sabzian, Monoochehr Ahankhah, Mahrokh Ahankhah
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • earneststrength 3 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • warmstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • identity
  • art
  • class
  • justice
  • redemption
Places
  • big city
  • home
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
  • true story
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence none
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action0
Horror0
Humour2
Realism9
Romance0
Tension3
Darkness3
Complexity8
Emotional weight7

More like this

Titles like Close-Up

Movie

Through the Olive Trees

1994

A gentle, meandering look at love and filmmaking that blurs reality and fiction, asking for patience and rewarding with quiet warmth.

Same writer: Abbas Kiarostami · Earnest, slow-burn · about identity and art · nonlinear

Also
Same writer: Abbas Kiarostami
Via
  • earnest
  • identity
  • art
  • nonlinear
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
104 min
Details
Through the Olive TreesHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Like Someone in Love

2012

A quiet, observant film that lingers on everyday moments, building subtle tension and melancholy through long, reflective scenes.

Same writer: Abbas Kiarostami · Earnest, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity · nonlinear

Also
Same writer: Abbas Kiarostami
Via
  • earnest
  • melancholic
  • identity
  • nonlinear
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
109 min
Details
Like Someone in LoveHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

A Moment of Innocence

1997

A gentle, self-reflexive film that blurs memory and reenactment, inviting quiet reflection on forgiveness and the stories we tell.

Earnest, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity and art · nonlinear

Via
  • earnest
  • melancholic
  • identity
  • art
  • nonlinear
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
78 min
Details
A Moment of InnocenceHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Certified Copy

2010

A quiet, talkative day in Tuscany where reality and role-play blur, asking you to question what you see and hear.

Same writer: Abbas Kiarostami · Earnest, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity and art · nonlinear

Also
Same writer: Abbas Kiarostami
Via
  • earnest
  • melancholic
  • identity
  • art
  • nonlinear
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
106 min
Details
Certified CopyHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

The Wind Will Carry Us

1999

A patient, quietly funny and deeply human portrait of a stranger slowing down in a remote village, asking for your full attention.

Same director: Abbas Kiarostami · Earnest, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity · nonlinear

Also
Same director: Abbas Kiarostami
Via
  • earnest
  • melancholic
  • identity
  • nonlinear
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
118 min
Details
The Wind Will Carry UsHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Taxi

2015

A warm, witty, and quietly daring ride through everyday Tehran, blending humour and quiet defiance in a confined space.

Earnest · about class and justice

Via
  • earnest
  • class
  • justice
Pacing
measured
Attention
engaged
Runtime
81 min
Details
TaxiHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

The Mastermind

2025

A quiet, wryly observed caper that drifts into a melancholy study of a man's unraveling, with a lived-in 1970s texture.

Melancholic, slow-burn · about identity and class · true story

Via
  • melancholic
  • identity
  • class
  • true story
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
engaged
Runtime
110 min
Details
The MastermindHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Taste of Cherry

1997

A quiet, slow drive through dusty roads that turns into a meditative, unsettling encounter with life and death.

Same writer: Abbas Kiarostami · Earnest, melancholic, slow-burn · nonlinear

Also
Same writer: Abbas Kiarostami
Via
  • earnest
  • melancholic
  • nonlinear
Pacing
slow-burn
Attention
demanding
Runtime
99 min
Details
Taste of CherryHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

High and Low

1963

A slow-burning moral thriller that moves from a tense domestic standoff to a meticulous police procedural, ending on a haunting note of class resentment.

Earnest, melancholic · about class and justice · nonlinear

Via
  • earnest
  • melancholic
  • class
  • justice
  • nonlinear
Pacing
measured
Attention
engaged
Runtime
142 min
Details
High and LowHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

The Story of Qiu Ju

1992

A quietly absorbing, human-scale journey through bureaucracy, with a stubborn heroine and a wry, bittersweet tone.

Earnest · about identity and class

Via
  • earnest
  • identity
  • class
Pacing
measured
Attention
engaged
Runtime
100 min
Details
The Story of Qiu JuHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Scandal

1950

A slow-burning moral drama that balances courtroom tension with tender, bittersweet moments, leaving a lingering sense of earnest hope.

Earnest, melancholic · about class and redemption · nonlinear

Via
  • earnest
  • melancholic
  • class
  • redemption
  • nonlinear
Pacing
measured
Attention
engaged
Runtime
104 min
Details
ScandalHidden from your suggestions.
Movie

Under the Open Sky

2021

A quiet, heartbreaking character study that immerses you in one man's struggle for dignity, with moments of raw tension and tender hope.

Earnest, melancholic · about identity and redemption · nonlinear

Via
  • earnest
  • melancholic
  • identity
  • redemption
  • nonlinear
Pacing
measured
Attention
engaged
Runtime
126 min
Details
Under the Open SkyHidden from your suggestions.

Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
crime, drama
Directed by
Abbas Kiarostami
Written by
Abbas Kiarostami
Starring
Hossain Sabzian, Monoochehr Ahankhah, Mahrokh Ahankhah, Abolfazl Ahankhah, Mehrdad Ahankhah, Nayer Mohseni Zonoozi, Hossain Farazmand, Ahmad Reza Moayed Mohseni
Cinematography
Ali Reza Zarrindast
Runtime
98 min
Country
Iran
Languages
Azerbaijani, Persian

TMDBIMDbLetterboxdWikipediaWikidata