Writer-director Vahid Vakilifar’s Taboor is not an easy film to like. Despite its generally ochre-sepia-red colour template, it is a cold film, full of long, static camera shots that force you to observe what’s happening rather than become emotionally involved with it. The result is a long 84 minutes spent remotely viewing a lone, silent pest exterminator as he calmly makes his way through the underbelly of human technology and engineering, spraying his chemicals around the pipes and ducts of 21st century Iran….
First published on the Arc blog, 28 June 2013; read more here.
