The central idea behind "Taxi" is not new. This idea consists of filming conversations in a Taxi, because these conversations are often surprisingly frank as they are between people who in all probability will never see each other again.
In the Netherlands this idea was used in a TV series employing a candid camera. With regard to films you can think of movies such as "Night on earth" (1991, Jim Jarmusch) and, in an Iranian context, "Ten" (2002, Abbas Kiarostami).
Director Jafar Panahi made "Taxi" out of a house arrest situation. In the summer of 2022 he was arrested again in order to serve the rest of a 2010 sentence.
Watching the movie you discover after a while that this is not a candid camera concept. The passengers are too colorfull and too diverse. Although the passengers are acted, they are acted by non professional actors.
Together these non professionals form a picture of Iranian society.
This picture of Iranian society is, just as in "The white balloon" (1995, Jafar Panahi), partially seen through the eyes of a child, the niece of the Taxi driver (Panahi himself). She uses the taxi for live school traffic. She has a school assignment to make a video clip. In discussing the preconditions of this video clip with her uncle the limited freedom in Irianian society becomes clearly visible.
In the Netherlands this idea was used in a TV series employing a candid camera. With regard to films you can think of movies such as "Night on earth" (1991, Jim Jarmusch) and, in an Iranian context, "Ten" (2002, Abbas Kiarostami).
Director Jafar Panahi made "Taxi" out of a house arrest situation. In the summer of 2022 he was arrested again in order to serve the rest of a 2010 sentence.
Watching the movie you discover after a while that this is not a candid camera concept. The passengers are too colorfull and too diverse. Although the passengers are acted, they are acted by non professional actors.
Together these non professionals form a picture of Iranian society.
This picture of Iranian society is, just as in "The white balloon" (1995, Jafar Panahi), partially seen through the eyes of a child, the niece of the Taxi driver (Panahi himself). She uses the taxi for live school traffic. She has a school assignment to make a video clip. In discussing the preconditions of this video clip with her uncle the limited freedom in Irianian society becomes clearly visible.