The Forgiveness of Blood
Sundance Selects | Release Date: February 24, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 8, 2012
It's a thriller that feels like a documentary. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMar 8, 2012
While The Forgiveness of Blood lacks the narrative momentum of director Joshua Marston's previous film, "Maria Full of Grace" - it is nonetheless fascinating. Read full review
85
MovielineStephanie ZacharekFeb 23, 2012
It's the kind of movie that makes the world feel like a smaller place, suggesting that the similarities connecting us across continents and cultures are more resonant than the things that divide us. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnFeb 24, 2012
The Forgiveness of Blood examines the barriers of ritual and the passage from youth to adulthood in Albanian society with the perceptive detail of a grand literary feat. At the same time, it retains the simplicity of a parable. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerFeb 24, 2012
My favorite character is not Nik but his 15-year-old sister, Rudina (Sindi Lacej), who takes over her father's bread delivery route in his rickety wagon and makes a go of it against all odds. Her pluck seems both Old World and New World. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumFeb 22, 2012
This gripping if tamped-down drama is steeped in ancient Albanian culture, where the real, tragic consequences of blood feuds can keep families trapped in their homes for generations. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramJul 30, 2012
Even if it lacks a stand-out turn it's still a grippingly authentic slice of life. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 23, 2012
Quietly affecting and surprisingly dramatic, so long as you're willing to watch it unfold at its own deliberate pace. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanFeb 23, 2012
There is so much to admire in Joshua Marston's The Forgiveness of Blood that it's easy to overlook the miracle at its center: Marston's artistic idealism. Read full review
80
Village VoiceErnest HardyFeb 21, 2012
Marston nails the claustrophobia of small-town life and the turbulent emotionalism of teenagers, but what pushes the film toward sublimity is the way he delicately captures all of the characters' inner lives as their world slowly crumbles. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonMar 30, 2012
What's lacking is a galvanizing performance comparable to that of the Oscar-nominated Catalina Sandino Moreno in "Maria Full of Grace." Still, The Forgiveness of Blood is a memorable portrait of a society and the demands it makes on those caught up in it. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenMar 29, 2012
There's much to observe – for example, the thoroughly credible performances of the cast, most of them non-professionals. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn LevyMar 15, 2012
It never exactly lights you on fire, but you always believe it. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoMar 8, 2012
The nonprofessional cast is convincing, especially Lacej, whose Rudina registers more strongly than Nik. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 8, 2012
Marston's a miniaturist even when The Forgiveness of Blood calls out for larger gestures, and you occasionally sense a more bruising, compelling movie lurking behind this one. Read full review
75
NPRJeannette CatsoulisFeb 24, 2012
Richly photographed by Rob Hardy (who gave Red Riding: 1974 its almost surreal bleakness), this meticulously researched story (Marston spent a month interviewing families trapped in these vendettas) reveals a culture dominated by male pride and patriarchal selfishness. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. MusettoFeb 24, 2012
A suspenseful work using nonprofessional actors and co-written with an Albanian filmmaker, shows Marston is no one-hit wonder. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedFeb 21, 2012
The result is a film of great humanity that reveals Albania as a primitive region struggling to bridge the gap between medieval European customs and the tide of progress. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 13, 2012
[A] compelling film touching on the perils of being young - that's it, merely young - in a culture without justice. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasFeb 22, 2012
Just as Marston's scrupulous attention to local custom and devotion to social realism recall the work of John Sayles (Lone Star), his occasionally enervating style also recalls Sayles at his worst. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMar 7, 2012
Watching the film, I felt impatience with these bullheaded men and the women who endure them. That's what Marston intended, I'm sure, but the stupidity of the characters doesn't provide much of an emotional payoff. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfFeb 21, 2012
No matter how sincere, Marston's effort also suffers from the lack of a burning lead as he had in Maria's Catalina Sandino Moreno. Fierce acting is a virtue you don't have to travel the world to find - or to lose sight of. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisFeb 23, 2012
Frustratingly, though, perhaps because he is an outsider and was concerned about appearing biased about another culture, about all that Mr. Marston does is chew on this clash, as if the repeated images of teenagers talking on cellphones next to a horse-drawn cart were a substitute for a strong filmmaking point of view. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerFeb 17, 2012
The film wisely avoids giving its material a large-scale epic quality it can't sustain, but it also results in a project that lacks the complexity to register as more than a handsome little sketch. Read full review
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