Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Reviewed by: David Parkinson
    80
    An unflinching and affecting depiction of the region's tragic lunacies.
  2. Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    80
    An eloquent and audacious lament.
  3. Fateful and funny, haunting and magical.
  4. 75
    By terms moving and funny, the story reaches its apex when Half Moon, a beautiful young woman played by Golshifteh Farahani, makes her appearance from out of nowhere. Is she real, or perhaps an angel? You'll have fun trying to come up with an answer.
  5. Ghobadi always uses non-pro actors but you would never know. In fact, professionals wouldn't do theses roles justice since the recruited performers are partly playing themselves and partly playing people Ghobadi has known since he was a boy.
  6. 70
    In a boom time for movies about the scars of the battlefield, Half Moon reminds that the unending strife and religious fundamentalism of the Middle East kills not just people but culture too.
  7. Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    70
    Writer-director Bahman Ghobadi's picturesque road trip is less about preserving a musical heritage than accepting one's fate, a mythic trek that's both heartrending and boisterous--often as hauntingly absurdist as a Kusturica carnival.
  8. This is a road movie unlike any other, the comical and mystical odyssey of old Mamo (an extraordinary performance by Ismail Ghaffari), a venerated musician who heads for Iraq from exile in Kurdish Iran with a busload of his musician sons to give a concert after Saddam's fall.
  9. The suspicion and contempt the band encounters along the way symbolize the Kurds' historical sufferings, but the movie has many comic moments courtesy of the eager bus driver, who keeps putting his foot in his mouth. The nonprofessional cast is highly persuasive under the sure hand of director Bahman Ghobadi (A Time for Drunken Horses).
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. 10
    Ù ÙØ¨ÙÙ Ø§ÙØµÙاء Ù Ø§ÙØ¬ÙØ§Ù ÙØ§ ÙÙÙ٠ع٠عاÙÙÙØ§ Ø±ØºÙ Ø§ÙØ¸ÙÙ Ù Ø§ÙØ§Ø¶Ø·Ùاد Ù Ø§ÙØªØ¹Ø³Ù ... ÙÙØ§ ÙÙÙØ± اÙÙØ¹Ø¬Ø²Ø§Øª ÙÙØ§ Ù٠تÙÙØ±Ùا إذ تÙÙØ¶ عÙÙÙØ§ ÙÙ ÙØ³Ø§Ø¦ÙÙØ§ Ù٠أÙÙØ§Øª اÙÙØ¸Ù .. ÙÙØ§ أشد Ø¸ÙØ¦Ùا اÙÙÙÙ ÙØ­Ø¯ÙØ« اÙÙÙØ³ اÙÙÙÙ Ù Ø¬ÙØ§Ù ÙØ¬Ùا٠ÙÙØ´ÙÙØªÙ ÙØ±Ø§ÙاÙÙ...Ø´ÙØ±Ø§ ÙÙÙ.  Full Review »
  2. Anderanik
    10
    I hear so times in the news that Iran Government Banned this persian movie , because they think Women have no right to sing . Is it true ? So I think Iranian Government can not tell about democrasy as in the nacular energy said. ha ha ha ! Full Review »