Baran
Miramax Films | Release Date: December 7, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
0
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Simple, but loaded. It celebrates the humanity and humanism at the heart of Iran's remarkable flow of films, but it's also more of a rebuke to materialistic values than any ideologue could ever hope to be. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A superlative work, offering a rich emotional experience that at the same time calls attention to the seemingly endless suffering of the Afghan people. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Expressively filmed story of rivalry, romance, and cultural conflict. Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The lovely clarity of this story, which seems to have been drawn from the literature of an earlier age, is well served by the artful subtlety of the telling. Mr. Majidi prefers imagery to exposition, and his shots are as dense with meaning, and as readily accessible, as Dutch paintings. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
It's an elliptical tragedy in which the fate of its characters takes on a larger significance while never losing its intimacy. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
As in Chaplin's films, humor and tragedy dance a wonderful tango throughout the movie. Baran is heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes apart, sometimes together. Read full review
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Majidi has discovered a wonderful cast of players to bring this gentle allegory to life, especially Naji as the irascible but generous Memar, who displays nearly perfect comic timing. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The director lingers over images, watching builders at work or Baran at her chores; the camera often seems to daydream, like Lateef. No grand climax caps the film, but the small incidents have a cumulative effect. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A film that uses beautiful tableaux and convincingly raw actors to build to a climax of shatteringly understated poignancy and power. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The latest in a flowering of good films from Iran, and gives voice to the moderates there. It shows people existing and growing in the cracks of their society's inflexible walls. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
Majidi tells his simple story with dazzling vision. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
There are moments in Baran as wholesomely heart-tugging as any involving Charlie Chaplin and a blind girl, but the film is saved from aren't-kids-cute sentimentality by a warmth that isn't faked and a stately sense of composition. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderTed Shen
Despite its mawkish tendencies, the film is remarkable for the naturalistic acting of its cast, particularly the simple, tenderly expressive performances of the two leads. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Each frame is exquisitely framed, the acting is superb -- Abedini deserves to be a star -- and the impermanence of the lives of displaced Afghans is hauntingly expressed. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Can and should be appreciated as a work of delicate and unmistakable beauty. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The film is filled with fascinating, static set-ups, beautiful but never fussy or artificial. Read full review
75
New York PostJonathan Foreman
A far more impressive and affecting piece of filmmaking and storytelling than most movies put out by Hollywood this year, and offers, as a bonus, a glimpse into a fascinating, contradictory society. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The faces of its inarticulate characters tell the story, and Majidi has put some amazing faces on the screen. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Yet another deceptively simple, supremely moving film from Iran.
70
New Times (L.A.)Andy Klein
If the performances are the prime reason the film is as engaging as it is, it must also be said that Majidi's visual style seems far more sophisticated than in "Children of Heaven."
70
VarietyDeborah Young
A fine cast brings the believable, sometimes humorous characters to life and gradually draws the viewer into a well-crafted, well-paced story. Read full review
70
NewsweekMichael J. Agovino
It has a timely resonance. While it doesn't have that transcendent quality of Majidi's earlier work -- the implied bleakness from across the border puts a slightly darker hue on the proceedings -- it does tell a story worth telling. Read full review
70
Film ThreatMichael Dequina
Any embedded message ultimately pales in importance to moving and understated story of love. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Though Baran is more forgiving of the Afghans' Iranian hosts than they may deserve, writer-director Majid Majidi ("The Color of Paradise") handles his unassuming material with surpassing delicacy, and the poetic eye for the rhythms and routines of hard labor that has become the hallmark of Iranian film. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Remains simplistic and gimmicky in the context of Iranian cinema. Read full review
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