Popular reviews

• 

  Review by davidehrlich ★★★★

  Here’s some free advice for any movie characters out there: If you ever happen to stumble upon a random bag full of money — and it’s not much of a stretch to assume that you might someday — the very first thing you should do is look up and check if the opening credits are still floating in the air nearby. If you see the words “directed by Peter Farrelly,” you might be in for a pretty good time and an even better tuxedo. If you see the words “directed by Joel and Ethan Coen,” I regret to inform you that you’re already dead. But in the event that you should come across a sudden windfall only to turn your…

• 

  Review by Ethan Colburn ★★★★★ 5

  Absolutely wrecked me.

  This is the closest thing I’ve seen to The Bicycle Thieves, and I imagine my experience was similar to the experience of watching that for the first time in the 40s. While it presents a different situation, it also presents a scenario that makes you question your own morals, and digs into the meaning and consequences of a man’s actions, both his good and cruel intentions.

  This is my first Farhadi movie, (I’ve been told I should see A Separation for ages) and it was an incredible experience watching this film. A fault of many auteurs is they attempt to conquer too many themes in their film, causing it to get over bloated. Farhadi is laser focused…

• 

  Review by Amin Pakparvar ★★★★

  یک. فیلمِ قاب در قاب‌ها. قهرمان را در بخش بزرگی از فیلم میان چارچوب درها‌ و پشت حصارها و شیشه‌ها و لایه‌هایی از رفت و آمدِ ماشین‌ها و آدم‌ها می‌یابیم. او در بافت بصریِ فیلم همیشه در تنگناست و نیز پیوسته به عنوان جزوی از کلیتی بزرگتر به تصویر کشیده می‌شود. او را نه فردی یگانه و متفاوت از دیگران، که یکی میان و شبیهِ همه‌ می‌یابیم. مصداق بصریِ این مسئله نماهای متعددی از مبلمان و ساختار شهریِ شیراز است که قهرمان و البته پسرش را همچون ذره‌ای سرگشته میان آدم‌ها و آهن‌ها به تصویر می‌کشد. و مصداق دراماتیک‌اش آنکه همه همچنانکه نیت خیر دارند، در ظاهرسازیِ هم شریک‌اند. نگاه دوربین در نماهای ابتدایی همچون راوی‌ای دانای کل او را…

• 

  Review by Mohammed 🕸 ★★★★★ 2

  “We are all villains in someone else's story”

  I drove 233 miles to another country just to watch this, do i have any regrets? the simple answer is NO.
  This is probably one of the best screenplays I’ve ever seen in my life.

• 

  Review by Brian Formo ★★★★½ 4

  Asghar Farhadi is truly the most consistent filmmaker working today. His films exist in a nuanced moral gray area in a world that desires clean black and white, clear right and wrong. He might not ever meet perfection again, like he did in A Separation, but every film of his is so well thought out in regards to truth mixed with lies, he just doesn't miss in my opinion.

  A Hero is another exceptional film in this way. It follows a prisoner (Amir Jadidi) who is imprisoned for his inability to pay a substantial debut. He is on leave for two days and attempts to first sell 17 gold coins found in a purse by his fiancée and when that…

• 

  Review by J ★★★★ 3

  “A Hero” is a loose parable of salvation where one noble act is seen through the prism of truth. Its light disperses into various shades, refracting its perception into multiple angles; changing; bending. Before it hovers everywhere and abducts everyone, the tale begins with downhearted Rahim in his two-day leave, who’s imprisoned for an unpaid debt, and a bag found with 17 pieces of gold coins enough to pay his due and freedom. But calculators and pens malfunction with a nudge to his conscience. So despite the temptation, he returns the bag to its owner through his sister. The media suddenly flock around him, praising him for his deed. Prison officials want to be associated with him, perfuming their untrustworthy…

• 

  Review by Matt Neglia ★★★★ 1

  A HERO finds Asghar Farhadi telling a compelling story about the fine lines between truth & lies, honor & humiliation, right & wrong. Amir Jadidi is great. Sympathetically shows how a seemingly simple act of kindness can grow into an entangled web of stress inducing complications.

• 

  Review by Adam Solomons ★★★★★ 5

  Farhadi’s Uncut Gems. Sublime

• 

  Review by Tim Brayton ★★★★ 3

  Asghar Farhadi doing exactly what he does, and continuing to do it better than anyone else alive: start out in the realm of scrappy social realism, with naturalistic acting and handheld camera and all, and then transform steadily and invisibly into a breathless psychological thriller about the fungibility of ethical behavior. Which is to say, it's not surprising how surprising this turns out to be, but as long as Farhadi keeps making Farhadi films at such an extraordinary level of craftsmaship and with such piercingly correct character work, I'm going to continue watching them and salivating over them. For a good long while, I was even convinced this was my favorite thing he'd done since A Separation, especially on the…

• 

  Review by Peter Dennis ★★★★

  The most interesting thing about this film was seeing it in a packed cinema made up largely of Iranians . It played so well and there was so much laughter throughout which helped me appreciate it more . 
  I wouldn’t put this on par with A separation or the salesman but it was still an excellent movie by a great filmmaker.

• 

  Review by Hutch ★★★★ 3

  We’ve all had that feeling of being misunderstood - that sense that we’re a better person than people are giving us credit for, and that what they’re judging us on is more a product of their own prejudices rather than our own guilt. And we’ve also all tried to put ourselves forward in the best possible light - to try to influence people’s impressions of us and make them like us perhaps more than we deserve. A Hero takes these two ideas and spins them into a riveting drama about a man who tries to do the right thing, hoping to make a good impression, only to face condemnation. 

  Rahim is a young man who is serving time for a…

• 

  Review by Daffa Akhmad ★★★★½

  Imagine the craftsmanship that Asghar Farhadi has, able to criticize the extremely layered society, the price of human empathy, lies, and how media exposure affects our point of view. All served like a rocket that's only going up up and could explode at any seconds now. What a masterpiece.