★★★★
'Maybe you don't go to Iranian cinema for nail-biting action and suspense. But that's what you are given in this arresting portmanteau film, the Golden Bear winner at last year's Berlin film festival.'
'Dissident Mohammad Rasoulof blasts against his country's profligate use of capital punishment...'There is great technique in the storytelling, and Rasoulof's outrage and nausea at the state-sanctioned murder gives the film passion.'
Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN
★★★★
'It's a typically forthright and powerful work from the director, who was sentenced to a year in prison in 2020 after three of his films were found to be "propaganda against the system.
Bleakly matter-of-fact in approach, the film has a devastating cumulative power that grows with each story.'
Wendy Ide, THE OBSERVER
'Eloquent, intriguing storytelling.'
THE SUNDAY TIMES
'There Is No Evil takes on grim subject matter but does not confine itself to naturalism or kitchen-sink misery. Rasoulof also illustrates the option to resist and shows the moment of resistance has something liberating and joyous, not so cynical as to dismiss it as futile. He's not so idealistic that he's blind to the consequences of saying no...
Kambole Campbell, SIGHT & SOUND
'Defying a 20-year filmmaking ban, the Iranian auteur made his seventh feature in secret. The first two vignettes are captivating and thrilling, making the chest tighten with anxiety...potent and unsettling.'
Marian Ashioti, LITTLE WHITE LIES
★★★★★
'An enthralling piece of cinema from a starting point of such despair only makes the film shine brighter. Superb across the board, from the convincing and moving performances, the stunning locations, to a plot that asks questions that get to the very heart of human actions and personal responsibility. A truly amazing piece of cinema.'
Dan Carrier, CAMDEN NEW JOURNAL/ISLINGTON TRIBUNAL/WEST END EXTRA
★★★★★
'Intensely scrutinises Iran's use of the death penalty through the lens of four separate episodes....a vital document of the all-pervasive state in an authoritarian regime.
'It feels glib to talk of spoilers in a film with such emotional and aesthetic power as this, but each story has a key moment of revelation or release in which that poser is held. Some of them, as with the second story, 'Birthday', gradually become clear across the narrative, while the first pulls out the rug in its final seconds, and the third has a final act as thrilling and tense as any conventional action film. To reveal those moments here would betray the strength of feeling and attention that they deserve.'
Christopher Hatchell, CINEVUE
★★★★★
'A brave, passionate masterwork with a universal resonance.'
'There is a powerful raw narrative that is full of tenacity and natural hubris.'
'Deeply human odyssey...a work of true mastery that asks for reform.'
Dion Wyn, MOVIEMARKER
★★★★★
'This is Iranian cinema at its very best, in every sense. It's entirely unexpected, profoundly heart-warming and poignant. This is not a didactic movie.'
'Spectacular.'
Victor Fraga, DIRTY MOVIES
★★★★★
'A stellar anthology that serves its political leanings alongside some enthralling and even shocking drama.'
Van Connor, MORNING STAR
★★★★★
‘A brave, passionate masterwork with a universal resonance. Moral choices embed the ethos of this profoundly human tale, and as you watch this story unfurl, you are constantly asking what you would do?
There is blatant honesty from Mohammad Rasoulof in every frame as he portrays the difficulties Iranian citizens go through. There Is No Evil is a work of true mastery that asks for reform.’
Dion Wyn, MOVIE MARKER
★★★★1/2
'Well-made, well-acted...this is one mightily powerful, resonating work.'
Malc Lewis, NEW INTERNATIONALIST
★★★★
'...a rigorous multi-perspective look at the death penalty in Iran.
'A chilling study of the impact and horror of capital punishment.'
James Mottram, TOTAL FILM
★★★★
'Immensely rewarding...offering no easy answers There Is No Evil asks a lot of its audience, but offers just as much in the way of rewards if you're willing to grapple with its questions. Bold in both content and form, Rasoulof melds his script's issue-movie premises with sumptuous directorial choices, never failing prey to the often rather dull kitchen-sink verite styles that can accompany films like this, crafting a deeply involving and provocative look at cruelty and guilt as a result.'
Jack Blackwell, WE LOVE CINEMA
★★★★
'...pristine and deeply humane filmmaking'
Benjamin Poole, MOVIE WAFFLER
★★★★
'Made with passion and conviction...this is certainly a film not to be missed.'
Alexa Dalby.' MOVIES1
‘Assuredly acted and beautifully shot…. showing several sides to the same issue. The choices these men have to make are imposed on them by an inhumane system..As writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof’s film deftly illustrates, these laws have a devastating impact on everyone within this society.’
'Best Movies of 2021'
'A Brilliant Look at Iranians Who Serve as Executioners and Those Who Refuse.
'There Is No Evil” mutates into a riveting thriller, takes a sharp turn into romance, and winds up with a family drama that brings all the individual components together for a poignant open-ended finale.
The scope of the storytelling combines “Pulp Fiction” energy with the structural playfulness of Rasoulof’s fellow Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi, but radiates with a narrative urgency all its own.
The movie provokes the wonder and terror of what it means to live in a world where every resolution brings new questions, and the prospects that a happy ending might carry the greatest risk of all.'
Eric Kohn, Indiewire
Best Movies of 2021
'The impact of There Is No Evil is its pointedness, drifting, all of a sudden, into different moods where what often prevails is a somber realism...grows more urgent for the fact that the movie exists to begin with...there remains great power here.'
Rolling Stone magazine
Best Movies of 2021
'Ferocious, bitter drama...'
Richard Brody, New Yorker
'There Is No Evil Fiercely Confronts a Nation’s Moral Well-Being
Diego Semerene, Slant Magazine
'There Is No Evil is a Major Work of Iranian Cinema and a Testament to the Oppressed
Not since A Short Film About Killing has a filmmaker produced such a thrilling case against capital punishment, an enraging, enthralling, enduring testament to the oppressed.'
'A government-imposed lifetime filmmaking ban doesn't stop Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof from creating a powerful moral case against the country's death penalty.
There Is No Evil" comes across as four films for the price of one, none of its segments anaemic, and each contributing fresh insights to the paradoxes of capital punishment in Iran.'
Peter Debruge, Variety
★★★★
'Maybe you don't go to Iranian cinema for nail-biting action and suspense. But that's what you are given in this arresting portmanteau film, the Golden Bear winner at last year's Berlin film festival.'
'Dissident Mohammad Rasoulof blasts against his country's profligate use of capital punishment...'There is great technique in the storytelling, and Rasoulof's outrage and nausea at the state-sanctioned murder gives the film passion.'
Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN
★★★★
'It's a typically forthright and powerful work from the director, who was sentenced to a year in prison in 2020 after three of his films were found to be "propaganda against the system.
Bleakly matter-of-fact in approach, the film has a devastating cumulative power that grows with each story.'
Wendy Ide, THE OBSERVER
'Eloquent, intriguing storytelling.'
THE SUNDAY TIMES
'There Is No Evil takes on grim subject matter but does not confine itself to naturalism or kitchen-sink misery. Rasoulof also illustrates the option to resist and shows the moment of resistance has something liberating and joyous, not so cynical as to dismiss it as futile. He's not so idealistic that he's blind to the consequences of saying no...
Kambole Campbell, SIGHT & SOUND
'Defying a 20-year filmmaking ban, the Iranian auteur made his seventh feature in secret. The first two vignettes are captivating and thrilling, making the chest tighten with anxiety...potent and unsettling.'
Marian Ashioti, LITTLE WHITE LIES
★★★★★
'An enthralling piece of cinema from a starting point of such despair only makes the film shine brighter. Superb across the board, from the convincing and moving performances, the stunning locations, to a plot that asks questions that get to the very heart of human actions and personal responsibility. A truly amazing piece of cinema.'
Dan Carrier, CAMDEN NEW JOURNAL/ISLINGTON TRIBUNAL/WEST END EXTRA
★★★★★
'Intensely scrutinises Iran's use of the death penalty through the lens of four separate episodes....a vital document of the all-pervasive state in an authoritarian regime.
'It feels glib to talk of spoilers in a film with such emotional and aesthetic power as this, but each story has a key moment of revelation or release in which that poser is held. Some of them, as with the second story, 'Birthday', gradually become clear across the narrative, while the first pulls out the rug in its final seconds, and the third has a final act as thrilling and tense as any conventional action film. To reveal those moments here would betray the strength of feeling and attention that they deserve.'
Christopher Hatchell, CINEVUE
★★★★★
'A brave, passionate masterwork with a universal resonance.'
'There is a powerful raw narrative that is full of tenacity and natural hubris.'
'Deeply human odyssey...a work of true mastery that asks for reform.'
Dion Wyn, MOVIEMARKER
★★★★★
'This is Iranian cinema at its very best, in every sense. It's entirely unexpected, profoundly heart-warming and poignant. This is not a didactic movie.'
'Spectacular.'
Victor Fraga, DIRTY MOVIES
★★★★★
'A stellar anthology that serves its political leanings alongside some enthralling and even shocking drama.'
Van Connor, MORNING STAR
★★★★★
‘A brave, passionate masterwork with a universal resonance. Moral choices embed the ethos of this profoundly human tale, and as you watch this story unfurl, you are constantly asking what you would do?
There is blatant honesty from Mohammad Rasoulof in every frame as he portrays the difficulties Iranian citizens go through. There Is No Evil is a work of true mastery that asks for reform.’
Dion Wyn, MOVIE MARKER
★★★★1/2
'Well-made, well-acted...this is one mightily powerful, resonating work.'
Malc Lewis, NEW INTERNATIONALIST
★★★★
'...a rigorous multi-perspective look at the death penalty in Iran.
'A chilling study of the impact and horror of capital punishment.'
James Mottram, TOTAL FILM
★★★★
'Immensely rewarding...offering no easy answers There Is No Evil asks a lot of its audience, but offers just as much in the way of rewards if you're willing to grapple with its questions. Bold in both content and form, Rasoulof melds his script's issue-movie premises with sumptuous directorial choices, never failing prey to the often rather dull kitchen-sink verite styles that can accompany films like this, crafting a deeply involving and provocative look at cruelty and guilt as a result.'
Jack Blackwell, WE LOVE CINEMA
★★★★
'...pristine and deeply humane filmmaking'
Benjamin Poole, MOVIE WAFFLER
★★★★
'Made with passion and conviction...this is certainly a film not to be missed.'
Alexa Dalby.' MOVIES1
‘Assuredly acted and beautifully shot…. showing several sides to the same issue. The choices these men have to make are imposed on them by an inhumane system..As writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof’s film deftly illustrates, these laws have a devastating impact on everyone within this society.’
'Best Movies of 2021'
'A Brilliant Look at Iranians Who Serve as Executioners and Those Who Refuse.
'There Is No Evil” mutates into a riveting thriller, takes a sharp turn into romance, and winds up with a family drama that brings all the individual components together for a poignant open-ended finale.
The scope of the storytelling combines “Pulp Fiction” energy with the structural playfulness of Rasoulof’s fellow Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi, but radiates with a narrative urgency all its own.
The movie provokes the wonder and terror of what it means to live in a world where every resolution brings new questions, and the prospects that a happy ending might carry the greatest risk of all.'
Eric Kohn, Indiewire
Best Movies of 2021
'The impact of There Is No Evil is its pointedness, drifting, all of a sudden, into different moods where what often prevails is a somber realism...grows more urgent for the fact that the movie exists to begin with...there remains great power here.'
Rolling Stone magazine
Best Movies of 2021
'Ferocious, bitter drama...'
Richard Brody, New Yorker
'There Is No Evil Fiercely Confronts a Nation’s Moral Well-Being
Diego Semerene, Slant Magazine
'There Is No Evil is a Major Work of Iranian Cinema and a Testament to the Oppressed
Not since A Short Film About Killing has a filmmaker produced such a thrilling case against capital punishment, an enraging, enthralling, enduring testament to the oppressed.'
'A government-imposed lifetime filmmaking ban doesn't stop Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof from creating a powerful moral case against the country's death penalty.
There Is No Evil" comes across as four films for the price of one, none of its segments anaemic, and each contributing fresh insights to the paradoxes of capital punishment in Iran.'
Peter Debruge, Variety