Fireworks Wednesday (2006)
Grasshopper Film | Release Date: March 16, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
84
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
VarietyDeborah YoungMar 16, 2016
Few Iranian films have tried to realistically depict both the urban middle and lower classes, and fewer still with the complexity of story telling and depth of characterization in Asghar Farhadi’s impressive third feature, Fireworks Wednesday. Read full review
91
ConsequenceBlake GobleApr 21, 2016
The film possesses a quiet, considered tension that draws the viewer in. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 22, 2016
Farhadi’s intrigue doesn’t feel like the stuff of a Hollywood thriller. It’s more realistic, more pedestrian than that – which gives it a real ring of low-key emotional truth. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranApr 9, 2016
What pulls us into Fireworks Wednesday is the universality of the emotions its characters display and the familiarity of the situations they find themselves in. Farhadi is a master navigator of these waters, and even his earlier films reward our close attention. Read full review
90
Village VoiceKenji FujishimaMar 15, 2016
It proves to be not just interesting in how it foreshadows the filmmaker's more mature works, but also a gripping piece of storytelling in its own right. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 5, 2016
Much of the action takes place in the couple's haphazard apartment, but the movie really does feel like a movie, with Farhadi's camera unobtrusively energizing the close-quarters exchanges, both verbal and non-verbal. The acting is splendid. Read full review
88
Boston GlobePeter KeoughApr 28, 2016
Another complex and magnificently acted melodrama. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesJohn HartlApr 21, 2016
Much of this is funny, some of it is scary and a lot of it is as twisty as a mystery thriller. Very little of it, thanks to a superb cast, is predictable. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireMar 16, 2016
As [Farhadi] does to such masterful effect in “A Separation,” here he constructs a story that keeps revealing new thematic and psychological layers, ones that often come to light through the shifting of perspective from one character to another, a technique that deepens our sympathy for the people we’re watching to the point of our realizing that, as in Renoir, “everyone has their reasons.” Read full review
88
Slant MagazineClayton DillardMar 14, 2016
Asghar Farhadi's 2006 film interrogates the tensions between tactility and vision in complex ways. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Mar 15, 2016
Fireworks Wednesday carefully, organically introduces its characters, then lets the audience try to discern what they’re withholding. Read full review
80
CineVuePatrick GambleMar 16, 2016
As with all of Farhadi's films there's a frailty behind his characters, with their insecurities and moral dilemmas bubbling to the surface as the director slowly raises the temperature in this pressure cooker of domestic strife. Nervous editing and sinuous cinematography also give the impression that Farhadi is choreographing his stars rather than directing them. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen HoldenMar 15, 2016
As with Mr. Farhadi’s other films, every detail of speech and body language resonates. Read full review
80
The GuardianPaul MacInnesMar 15, 2016
This is a thoroughly engrossing and densely textured drama, showing Farhadi's cool skill in dissecting the Iranian middle classes and the unhappiness of marriage. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayApr 28, 2016
Mournful, enigmatic and compulsively engrossing, Fireworks Wednesday gives viewers a chance to watch a master at work — before he was acknowledged as a master. Read full review
75
The Film StageMichael SnydelMar 24, 2016
Even if the film doesn’t quite rise to the zeniths of Farhadi’s considerable career, it’s another brutally insightful and relatable story about marriage, relationships, and the lives people sacrifice in order to save face. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeMar 17, 2016
Farhadi brings keen discernment to this unraveling marriage, and a third-act revelation packs a wallop. Read full review
60
Time OutBen KenigsbergMar 15, 2016
[Farhadi and cowriter Mani Haghighi] prove to be stronger on atmosphere than on structure, aided by crisp, unnerving camerawork. Read full review
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