60
The slick assurance of Bakhshi’s approach makes for an accessible, pacey melodrama but one that can also seem to trivialise the life and death matters at the core of the story.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
67
It leans a bit heavy into big swing emotional moments and has a few shouting matches too many, but Asgari gives an absolutely tremendous performance that hits like a wrecking ball and may make even the most stone-hearted tear up.
80
Los Angeles Times by Carlos Aguilar
The riveting and superbly acted Iranian drama, based on a real variety show, poses a moral crucible born out of a theocratic system that disfavors women amid the heightened tension of the on-camera spectacle.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young
There is really much to enjoy in this paradoxical but grippingly paced film.
75
Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness, might start softly, leaving viewers unsure what it is, but very quickly, it becomes fascinating and engaging akin to watching a game where we have to discern the truth. It is actually strange, though quite disturbing in hindsight, to think of it this way, considering real events inspire the story.
88
Yalda: A Night of Forgiveness is a riveting and thoroughly engrossing satire of Iranian culture and the work-arounds built into a theocracy, ways of ignoring calls for reform and the shedding of “tradition.”
88
RogerEbert.com by Roxana Hadadi
The result is a twisty-turny plot that sometimes feels like a family drama, sometimes like a legal thriller, with Bahkshi delivering a bombshell, allowing the film’s characters time to react to it, and then dropping another secret that is even more shocking than the first.
60
Bakhshi’s sure-handed assessment of Iran’s class struggle, a thoughtfully-parsed topic with universal implications, is the film’s most fascinating dimension.