Dear Reader: Update, Movie Review Intelligence will
continue publishing this website through June (more...)
Search a Movie:
THIS IS NOT A FILM (IN FILM NIST)Movie Reviews
Persian language documentary about Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi's attempt to continue his life's work despite a government ruling that forbids him to make films for 20 years. Cast:Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba MirtahmasbDirector:Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba MirtahmasbRelease Date:February 29, 2012DVD Release:February 26, 2013Length:1 hr 15 min
FEBRUARY 26, 2013
This Is Not a Film (In film nist), Exceptional Reviews (Doc) Key Cities
This Is Not a Film (In film nist) played in key cities to exceptional reviews. • A.O. Scott wrote in the New York Times, "I'm at a bit of a loss to explain, to tell you the truth, since my job is to review movies, and this, obviously, is something different: a masterpiece in a form that does not yet exist." • And Emanuel Levy wrote for Cinema 24/7, "...sly, ironic and occasionally darkly humorous in its observations." More Reviews Below...
This Is Not a Film (In film nist) Positive Reviews (33 Reviews, reviews below)
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a powerful statement about nothing less than the paramount importance of freedom... simultaneously depressing as hell and brimming with hope and defiance."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 474 words, 02/28/12
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a great film, and a triumph of creativity and courage over repression.... a stirring demonstration of how just living one's daily life can be a work of art."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 106 words, 02/24/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...leads to a final scene of overwhelming power.... It simply happens, and then the film is over, having nothing more to say. Because, after all, it is not a film."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 721 words, 04/13/12
we have an app for when you're out and about
get our iPhone app... or get our mobile web app...
movie review intelligence
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (11 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "I'm at a bit of a loss to explain, to tell you the truth, since my job is to review movies, and this, obviously, is something different: a masterpiece in a form that does not yet exist."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 980 words, 02/29/12
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: EXCELLENT(cg) "If not a film, what shall we call Jafar Panahi's documentary? A missive, a provocation, a plea? Regardless, the impact is undeniable."(See all of Elizabeth Weitzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 143 words, 03/02/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "Fascinating... illustrates how Panahi is struggling to stay alive creatively and, paradoxically, can't help but demonstrate how much of a natural filmmaker he is."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 645 words, 03/02/12
Kyle Smith, New York Post: MODERATE(cg) "...there is courage and cheekiness here. What there is not is a story, or much insight or even anger... Panahi drifts around his home outlining his ideas for another movie..."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 300 words, 02/29/12
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Panahi has made an essay with his fellow filmmaker Mojtaba Mirtahmasb on what it means to be under house arrest and under the thumb of the Iranian culture ministry."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 416 words, 04/13/12
John Anderson, New York Newsday: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...has an ending that's as dramatic as anything made by any director... something Panahi accomplishes with a bit of a wink, and no small amount of courage."(See all of John Anderson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 376 words, 03/09/12
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: OUTSTANDING "...an extraordinary film, and one of the few in which boredom in the face of static camerawork and lack of narrative adds to the emotional wallop."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 323 words, 02/27/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...leads to a final scene of overwhelming power.... It simply happens, and then the film is over, having nothing more to say. Because, after all, it is not a film."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 721 words, 04/13/12
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: OUTSTANDING "...it's breathtakingly cinematic, a cannily crafted vérité crackling with immediacy.... most miraculously, a never-a-dull-moment entertainment."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 861 words, 02/29/12
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "...shot by his colleague Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, and partly on Panahi's iPhone... deft and ironic, mixing banal reality with poignant metaphor in a typically Iranian style."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 127 words, 09/07/11
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...what real courage in filmmaking looks like.... may not be what we're used to in a movie, but in many ways it's much, much more."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 487 words, 04/13/12
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...one of the most eloquent blows against a dictatorship ever filmed... it forces you to think about everything that can't be said and everything that's just off-screen."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 774 words, 05/04/12
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Mirtahmasb, the director who helped Panahi make it - and then smuggled it out of Iran inside a cake - has been sentenced for counter-revolutionary acts as well."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 497 words, 02/29/12
Walter Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...isn't just a film, it's a strong one. It's also an act of political defiance, a moving personal document and a meditation on what film is and can be."(See all of Walter Addiego's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 405 words, 04/06/12
Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...remarkable... an almost unclassifiable act of subtle defiance against an oppressive authority, is, in fact, very much a film."(See all of Tom Keogh's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 275 words, 04/13/12
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: EXCELLENT(cg) "...absorbing and clever... has no special effects, no soundtrack, no plot to speak of, and yet it is, in many ways, one of the most tense films you can imagine..."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 327 words, 06/01/12
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (7 Reviews)
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: OUTSTANDING "...it's breathtakingly cinematic, a cannily crafted vérité crackling with immediacy.... most miraculously, a never-a-dull-moment entertainment."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 861 words, 02/29/12
Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD(cg) "It can't be a film, because the acclaimed director Jafar Panahi ('The Circle,' etc.) has been ordered not to make any by the Iranian theocrats..."(See all of Gerald Peary's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 117 words, 05/03/12
Scott Tobias, AV Club: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...pleasing mainly just as a message-in-a-bottle from a restless, persecuted artist -- that is, until the amazing closing shot..."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 214 words, 09/09/11
Cynthia Fuchs, Pop Matters: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...film is not only a collaborative art, but also a process... the film poses the question of what matters, how space and time merge, why you watch films."(See all of Cynthia Fuchs's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 912 words, 02/29/12
A.O. Scott, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "I'm at a bit of a loss to explain, to tell you the truth, since my job is to review movies, and this, obviously, is something different: a masterpiece in a form that does not yet exist."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 980 words, 02/29/12
David Denby, New Yorker: VERY GOOD "...often funny and stirring, but as you are watching you know what the game will lead to; dictatorships are not known for their sense of humor."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 673 words, 02/27/12
Ella Taylor, NPR: EXCELLENT "...an exhilarating evocation of how art is stubbornly made, and arbitrary authority put in its place, under the most confining conditions."(See all of Ella Taylor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 834 words, 02/28/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "Fascinating... illustrates how Panahi is struggling to stay alive creatively and, paradoxically, can't help but demonstrate how much of a natural filmmaker he is."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 645 words, 03/02/12
Dana Stevens, Slate: OUTSTANDING "...a miracle -- not only because it's such a terrific movie but because it exists for us to see at all.... the very existence of this movie is a gift."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 891 words, 03/02/12
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: OUTSTANDING "...at first appears to be a haphazard visual diary... But by the time the film is over it becomes something quite different, something almost impossible to describe..."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,289 words, 02/29/12
MOVIE INDUSTRY (6 Reviews)
Peter Debruge, Daily Variety: VERY GOOD "Released from prison but ordered not to direct, write screenplays, give interviews or leave the country, Panahi tests his luck, showing himself unbroken by censorship."(See all of Peter Debruge's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 832 words, 05/20/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "Fascinating... illustrates how Panahi is struggling to stay alive creatively and, paradoxically, can't help but demonstrate how much of a natural filmmaker he is."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 645 words, 03/02/12
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...intimate, modest, yet startling... secretly shot on an iPhone and a digital camera... a revelatory portrait.... sly, ironic and occasionally darkly humorous in its observations."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 398 words, 02/03/12
A.O. Scott, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "I'm at a bit of a loss to explain, to tell you the truth, since my job is to review movies, and this, obviously, is something different: a masterpiece in a form that does not yet exist."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 980 words, 02/29/12
11.8 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
This Is Not a Film (In film nist)'s reviews are separated by an average 11.8 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
This Is Not a Film (In film nist) (33 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:This Is Not a Film (In film nist)'s reviews cover 50.4% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 18,313 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 555 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
This Is Not a Film (In film nist) Coverage, Volume & Length (33 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 4 Days Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
This Is Not a Film (In film nist)'s reviews on average broke 4 days before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is This Is Not a Film (In film nist)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
This Is Not a Film (In film nist) (33 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
Mobile Web App version 1.2 shows a list of all current movies and review information. You can click through to the cast, director, synopsis, release date and rating on page two, plus individual reviews on page three. The information is updated on a live/real-time basis. You can also search our database of films. Designed for when you're on the move and want the latest info, this app will work on any mobile web browser. From your mobile device -- only from a mobile device -- open our Mobile Web App here...
