Jafar Panahi's Taxi
Kino Lorber | Release Date: October 2, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
91
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisOct 29, 2015
This is a movie that you will admire both for its courage and its creativity. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 29, 2015
From its initial first-person, behind-the-wheel viewpoint to its final implication of all-pervasive surveillance, Panahi creates a fascinating hybrid that becomes a microcosm of Tehran. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenOct 8, 2015
It's an act of defiance that's also a sublime piece of cinema, and it ranks among the director's finest work. Read full review
100
Time OutDavid EhrlichOct 8, 2015
This spry, sharp and relentlessly clever middle finger to censorship is Panahi’s boldest act of defiance to date. Read full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 1, 2015
Like Mr. Panahi’s cab, his film is equipped with both windows and mirrors. It’s reflective and revealing, intimate and wide-ranging, compact and moving. Read full review
100
Slant MagazineJake ColeSep 28, 2015
Jafar Panahi spotlights the act of filmmaking as an act of resistance as well as a possible source of propaganda and manipulation. Read full review
100
Screen DailyDan FainaruAug 22, 2015
This is a delightful surprise, and though it is even more minimalistic than his last two illegal exports, This Is Not A film and Closed Curtains, it is also more mature, and better calibrated and - at the risk of annoying art house patrons who often hate this term - more entertaining than the other two. Read full review
100
CineVueEd FranklFeb 10, 2015
At 82 minutes, this is a brisk but hugely powerful work that is cinema of the oppressed par excellence. Read full review
100
VarietyScott FoundasFeb 10, 2015
A film of quiet but profound outrage, laughing on the surface, but howling in anger just beneath. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianMarc MohanNov 13, 2015
What's most endearing about "Taxi," as well as Panahi's earlier films made under repression, is the lack of righteous anger. Read full review
90
SlateDana StevensOct 6, 2015
Taxi is a subversive piece of underground filmmaking; for all its lighthearted banter and formal playfulness, the film maintains an undercurrent of anxiety and danger. Read full review
90
The New YorkerAnthony LaneOct 5, 2015
The mocking of oppression may be steely, but the film’s an easy ride. Read full review
90
NPRBob MondelloOct 5, 2015
The rich, not-always-rule-following mosaic of Iranian life he's created in Taxi — at once inspired, and inspiring — is the portrait that the outside world will see of Iran. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlSep 29, 2015
There's something wonderful in how these scenes, so breezy and funny, reveal so much. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungFeb 10, 2015
Amazingly, Panahi turns the utterly simple, economical format of a camera inside a car into something relevant to his own artistic state and full of eye-opening insights into Iranian society. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaNov 5, 2015
Jafar Panahi's Taxi looks onto a world where the social order and the spiritual order are at odds, in flux, where the conversations are sometimes cutting, sometimes comic, sometimes troubled, sometimes profound. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 29, 2015
Those who’ve followed Panahi’s career over the decades will catch echoes of and references to his earlier movies, and at times Taxi is as much a tour of his filmography as it is of Tehran. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Tina HassanniaOct 2, 2015
That the director is able to continue producing such creative and daring work while ostensibly under the thumb of the state is a true feat. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 30, 2015
Every new movie by Jafar Panahi is a miniature coup, an act of fearless political defiance. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJessica KiangFeb 10, 2015
An insightful, enjoyable, absorbing ride that stands as a testament to its director's lively, ungovernable storytelling imagination. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriOct 6, 2015
Taxi is a strange movie. These are nonprofessional actors, and the film veers between documentary realism and playful staginess. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 22, 2015
Taxi grew on me. It is not as angry and painful as his previous work, the samizdat This Is Not a Film, but it is subtle, humorous and humane. It tells you more about modern Iran, I think, than you’ll discover on the news. Read full review
75
Washington PostStephanie MerryOct 16, 2015
Some of the characters make more of an impression than others, and the vignettes aren’t always entirely thrilling or well-acted. But Panahi’s movie remains a political coup considering his significant constraints. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeSep 30, 2015
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. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyOct 2, 2015
Panahi’s latest act of defiance is entirely commendable on a number of levels, but I regret to say that from my own perspective, Taxi is the weakest of the films he’s made since he was enjoined from making them. Read full review
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