The film has its flaws, but [director Majidi's] gift for giving a cinematic texture to the emotional senses validates his work as a visionary.
Comment
08/02/07
The Willow Tree (2005)
88 %
Reviews Counted: 16 Fresh: 14 Rotten:2 Average Rating: 7.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Synopsis: Youssef, a blind University professor, is suddenly faced with a fatal disease and must undergo a treatment in France. Back home, will he find the life he had before? --© Official Site [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Parviz Parastui, Mohammad Amir Naji, Mahmoud Behraznia
Director: Majid Majidi
Screenwriter: Majid Majidi, Fouad Nahas, Nasser Hashemzadeh
Composer: Ahmad Pezhman
Screenwriter: Majid Majidi, Fouad Nahas, Nasser Hashemzadeh
Composer: Ahmad Pezhman
Reviews
1 - 16 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top Critic
Perhaps Majidi intended wry commentary and observation of the dubious influences of Western culture on Iran, where outside scientific, technological and material advances impart a knowledge that is not necessarily likewise wisdom, enlightenment or virtue.
05/15/08
Teeters on the edge of overwrought melodrama but is saved by the convincing performance of Parvis Parastui.
05/12/08
Iranian director Majid Majidi... takes his place alongside Robert Bresson as a master of sacred cinema. His Iran is a place of natural beauty so intense that even the sightless can experience its splendor.
01/24/08
Children of Heaven won me over with its slow gentle build and big sweet heart. I was expecting more of the same with Willow Tree. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.
10/01/07
Majidi infuses his simple yet eloquent tale with stunning imagery designed to make us relate to Youssef's reawakening.
09/10/07
Top Critic
A spiritual masterpiece on gratitude, transformation and surrender to God by the gifted Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi. Rumi would love it!
08/03/07
Anchored by Parastui’s luminous, heartfelt performance, [director] Majidi also revels in the joy of sight, especially as manifested in the beauty and lovely colors of nature. The Willow Tree is a powerful and ultimately optimistic movie.
08/03/07
A perfectly worked out story and a marvelous new step forward for Iranian director Majid Majidi. It is also, in some ways, yet another step forward for his country's cinema, a national art that grows more accomplished every year.
08/03/07
Explicitly religious, intensely poetic meditations, filled with recurrent symbols and suffused with a spirit of divine apprehension. [It is] sad beyond measure.
08/03/07
Top Critic
The filmmaker compels us to see in the dark, to recognize beauty in the absence of color and light.
08/03/07
A beautiful, strange film, deeply moving and no surprise from [director] Majidi.
08/02/07
A beautiful film, both simple and profound, which suggests that bargaining with God is a bad idea in all cultural traditions.
08/02/07
The film is dignified by Parvis Parastui's memorable performance, which partially offsets Majidi's symbolic heavywork.
07/24/07
1 - 16 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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