NYFF 2022: No Bears, R.M.N., All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | Festivals & Awards – Roger Ebert

The most interesting part of this drama, though, takes place on the Iranian side of the border and doesnt involve characters who are trying to leave the country. The village where Panahis renting a room is embroiled in a conflict over two men who have claims on the same young woman. One was betrothed to her at birth, a local custom; the other is the guy she actually wants to marry. Because the villagers think Panahi has filmed the two lovers, their leaders (all male, of course) demand his footage and then an oath from him that he is loath to give.

More than his other recent films, No Bears shows the influence of Panahis mentor Abbas Kiarostami, especially the Kiarostami films Through the Olive Trees and The Wind Will Carry Us. But perhaps most significant is that, rather than impugning the Islamic regime here, Panahi, like Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf before him, is interrogating the deep structures of Irans pre-modern, non-urban culture. The villagers antiquated morals and worldview, he implies, are whats imprisoning them, not any political strictures. Its a resonant message at a time when authoritarian leaders in Russia, Brazil, the U.S. and other countries evidently have the backing of substantial portions of their populations.

Very much in line with his last four, made-in-secret features, No Bears is another penetrating, highly accomplished work by a master filmmaker. As such, it may well belong to the outgoing era of Iranian filmmaking. But one hopes that the next era will have room for the understated wit that Panahi often displays. This films title, incidentally, comes from a scene when the director is warned to avoid a certain area at night because of the danger of bears. Later, he asks about the same path and is told, oh, there are no bears!another sign that many of the perils plaguing this place are imaginary, deriving from ancestral fears.

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NYFF 2022: No Bears, R.M.N., All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | Festivals & Awards - Roger Ebert