NO BEARS was shot entirely in secret by now imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi. Playing himself, the banned director genially constructs his film with oblique realism despite being thwarted by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power. There are actually several films within this narrative beyond Panahi's own story as a director who can't show up on set, including the parallel love stories in the film he's meant to be directing and the one that he becomes entangled with near the Turkish border. A NYT Critic's Pick.
