Iranian director Jafar Panahi is releasing the third clandestine film he’s made since 2010, when the Iranian authorities banned him from moviemaking for 20 years. To those unfamiliar with Panahi’s work or his cruel situation, “Taxi” may be frustrating: loosely scripted, acted by nonprofessionals and set entirely within a Tehran taxi cab.

Panahi is driving, and through his cab move semi-fictional characters such as a black-market video vendor moving copies of Woody Allen and “The Walking Dead,” two old ladies transporting goldfish, and, most poignantly, Panahi’s real-life niece. She’s making a film, and even in grade school, she’s been sternly warned not to get political.

Often extremely funny, always thoughtful, the movie transcends its static nature to become a deeper picture of modern Iran than any news story could offer.