June 4, 2026
FILM: BLACK RABBIT, WHITE RABBIT
DIRECTED BY: SHAHRAM MOKRI
STARRING: BABAK KARIMI, HASTI MOHAMMAI, KIBRIYO DILYOBOVA
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
When Black Rabbit, White Rabbit opens, there is a long continuous shot of a bustling city street. A man walks into the frame and then into a shop. From there a dialogue with the owners takes place until one of the characters is accidently shot. The scene sets up a few ideas and techniques that will be present throughout the rest of the film: long camera takes, guns, and a shooting or two. However, this isn’t even the start of the official film we are viewing. A heading then appears announcing chapter one. This will lead to a series of scenes which are interconnected but not in any traditional way. Director Shahram Mokri is even a character in the film but we don’t spend any time with him. He’s referred to several times as this is a film about making more than one film on a studio lot. It’s a twisted, wild ride which takes us in and out of sets, reality, and movie scenes. Often these intertwine in ways that make for a surreal and mind bending viewing experience.
I should say that this is probably only a film for those that enjoy such a challenge. There isn’t a traditional narrative here and it is often hard to tell who is a character in the films within the film and who is working behind the scenes. Actually, people do a bit of both. If that is too much for you, steer clear of Black Rabbit, White Rabbit! However, for the rest of us, the film offers many great pleasures to consume.
Looking at chapter one, for instance, we get a rather long scene that is shot in a single take. It features a woman named Sara who has been in a terrible car crash leaving her bandaged almost to the point of looking like a female mummy. Sara has a controlling husband who tells her she stinks, perhaps from all of the surgeries she had. She announces though that she can talk to inanimate objects and make them move. This becomes another motif throughout the film as some do move seemingly on their own and in one chapter, actually talk to each other. (Are you still with me?!) We end up finding out that this entire scene is part of a film that is being shot.
In the following chapter, Babak, a prop master is concerned about the use of a prop gun in a recreation of a scene from an old Iranian film. This is the fortieth film Babak has worked on and his own mentor was accidently shot on his fortieth film sometime in the past. He spends much of this scene and the upcoming ones, trying to find a particular gun on set. All the while he is interacting with the director of the film we saw in the first chapter, an extras coordinator who wants to meet the star of that film, and several other key crew members at the studio. All of this is done, again, in single long continuous shots.
You might wonder if this is some kind of stunt rather than a true film experience. My answer to that is no. These are interesting and generally well-developed characters whose lives become intertwined because of the nature of the film productions and a few surreal images and dreams that pop up in subsequent chapters.
The success of a film like this revolves around trying to understand where you might be at during any particular scene. It could be a film, it could be behind the scenes, or it could be a surreal manifestation of characters’ various anxieties. However, this is, if nothing else, a film about filmmaking and about how those worlds collide. There’s even a reference to the shooting on the Alec Baldwin film a few years back in which the cinematographer was accidently shot by the actor playing a character. In other words, make believe film worlds can mix with reality by accident or intentionally. Black Rabbit, White Rabbit is an impressive illustration of that blending of worlds…and yes, it is cool to watch and consider the incredible choreography that must have gone into creating those long takes.
Black Rabbit White Rabbit will play at the Festival of Films from Iran at the Gene Siskel Center June 6 & 8.
FILM: BLACK RABBIT, WHITE RABBIT
DIRECTED BY: SHAHRAM MOKRI
STARRING: BABAK KARIMI, HASTI MOHAMMAI, KIBRIYO DILYOBOVA
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
When Black Rabbit, White Rabbit opens, there is a long continuous shot of a bustling city street. A man walks into the frame and then into a shop. From there a dialogue with the owners takes place until one of the characters is accidently shot. The scene sets up a few ideas and techniques that will be present throughout the rest of the film: long camera takes, guns, and a shooting or two. However, this isn’t even the start of the official film we are viewing. A heading then appears announcing chapter one. This will lead to a series of scenes which are interconnected but not in any traditional way. Director Shahram Mokri is even a character in the film but we don’t spend any time with him. He’s referred to several times as this is a film about making more than one film on a studio lot. It’s a twisted, wild ride which takes us in and out of sets, reality, and movie scenes. Often these intertwine in ways that make for a surreal and mind bending viewing experience.
I should say that this is probably only a film for those that enjoy such a challenge. There isn’t a traditional narrative here and it is often hard to tell who is a character in the films within the film and who is working behind the scenes. Actually, people do a bit of both. If that is too much for you, steer clear of Black Rabbit, White Rabbit! However, for the rest of us, the film offers many great pleasures to consume.
Looking at chapter one, for instance, we get a rather long scene that is shot in a single take. It features a woman named Sara who has been in a terrible car crash leaving her bandaged almost to the point of looking like a female mummy. Sara has a controlling husband who tells her she stinks, perhaps from all of the surgeries she had. She announces though that she can talk to inanimate objects and make them move. This becomes another motif throughout the film as some do move seemingly on their own and in one chapter, actually talk to each other. (Are you still with me?!) We end up finding out that this entire scene is part of a film that is being shot.
In the following chapter, Babak, a prop master is concerned about the use of a prop gun in a recreation of a scene from an old Iranian film. This is the fortieth film Babak has worked on and his own mentor was accidently shot on his fortieth film sometime in the past. He spends much of this scene and the upcoming ones, trying to find a particular gun on set. All the while he is interacting with the director of the film we saw in the first chapter, an extras coordinator who wants to meet the star of that film, and several other key crew members at the studio. All of this is done, again, in single long continuous shots.
You might wonder if this is some kind of stunt rather than a true film experience. My answer to that is no. These are interesting and generally well-developed characters whose lives become intertwined because of the nature of the film productions and a few surreal images and dreams that pop up in subsequent chapters.
The success of a film like this revolves around trying to understand where you might be at during any particular scene. It could be a film, it could be behind the scenes, or it could be a surreal manifestation of characters’ various anxieties. However, this is, if nothing else, a film about filmmaking and about how those worlds collide. There’s even a reference to the shooting on the Alec Baldwin film a few years back in which the cinematographer was accidently shot by the actor playing a character. In other words, make believe film worlds can mix with reality by accident or intentionally. Black Rabbit, White Rabbit is an impressive illustration of that blending of worlds…and yes, it is cool to watch and consider the incredible choreography that must have gone into creating those long takes.
Black Rabbit White Rabbit will play at the Festival of Films from Iran at the Gene Siskel Center June 6 & 8.