Opening Day of Close-Up

A micro-manager as movie theater owner. Nanni starts his day getting last night’s gross ticket sales, city by city, for “The Lion King.” Then he’s on the phone to a newspaper advertising office. That evening, the Iranian film “Nema-ye Nazdik” (“Close-Up”) opens at his theater. He heads for the theater where he coaches staff on minute details, including telling the projectionist to raise the image just a bit – not enough, he says, to even notice. He role-plays with his ticket seller. That night, after going to bed, he rouses himself to call for that night’s ticket sales for his and other theaters. No rest for the restless.