Are any of the films main protagonists not acting?
This was billed from reviews I've seen as a "mix" between real life and acting. I'm well aware of the modern Iranian tradition of mixing real actors with spontaneous chance encounters with the public so I have a good reference.
To me though this particular film seemed to be completely staged. Sure, maybe the guy selling music CDs to Panahi through the window was real and other passers by, but were ANY of the main actors in the car not scripted?! I believe not, it felt totally constructed, every scene, especially how contrived all the dialogue with its references to cinema, films, even other Panahi films.
You can tell I was disappointed probably. Anyhow, I just wanted to check, does anyone believe anything of major importance wasn't staged? Because for me this was for all intents and purposes a scripted and staged film using incredibly little chance and real life... just the backdrop outside the car at most but nothing more.
Give me Kiarostami's Ten any day.