We went to see two Iranian films at the Goethe Institut here last night. Fortuitously, copies of this collection of photos by Beat Presser of Herzog at work were still on sale. These volumes were brought in for the Werner Herzog Retrospective, part of the Fringe at this year's Singapore Film Festival. Grabbed a copy at $15, with scenes from Aguirre, The Wrath of God still raw and bleeding in my mind.

Close Up by Abbas Kiarostami was a curious mix of truth and fiction, constantly challenging the divide between some objective reality and the fundamental deception behind acting. But as so many others have already realised and imbibed (and subsequently the fact no longer astonishes them), the camera makes no such distinction.

I enjoyed Mohsen Makhmalbaf's The Cyclist more. Everyone naturally gravitates towards pain and suffering.