★★★☆☆
WHEN we first see Salim Shaheen, the most prolific filmmaker in Afghanistan, and focus of this eccentric documentary, he is standing among a group of people whipping them up into a frenzy of admiration for both him and the very idea of making movies.
Straight away we’re drawn to him as a larger-than-life, big-headed, gregarious and temperamental personality. Director Sonia Kronlund invites us on an entertaining journey into his filmmaking process and we find out he is a bit of an unstoppable force, having directed, produced and starred in more than 100 films so far. Along the way he has self-styled himself as a rebellious fulfiller of creative dreams against a backdrop of a country torn apart by war for decades, creating his own kind of epic cinema that mixes ostentatious Bollywood aesthetic and cheesy Hollywood machismo. Nothingwood, as Shaheen describes it, is the name for the film business in his country as there are no real resources for an industry to flourish.
It’s a fun watch, albeit one that could have done with a little more thorough context for both the man himself and the larger cultural and societal relationship with films as an art form. But that inherently scrappy, fly-on-the-wall nature keeps you on your toes and makes sure the documentary is as eccentric as its subject.
You get the feeling that his free-spirited, expressive personality is not just his natural way of being but a sort of survival mechanism that has allowed him to get as far as he has.
Kronlund’s film may lack tight focus to make it a complete portrait of a maverick – a lengthier runtime may have lent the piece more depth or scope. Nevertheless it’s engaging as a down-to-earth showcase of one unique individual’s unwavering passion for making movies, even as the Nothingwood of his home nation seems to perpetually battle against him.
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