There Is No Evil
Kino Lorber | Release Date: May 14, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueChristopher MachellDec 2, 2021
Suffice to say, There Is No Evil is a deeply felt study of the effects of state violence on the individual. While the cost of resistance is high, the price of compliance may well be greater. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubRoxana HadadiMay 12, 2021
The film’s as compassionate as it is unsettling, and as provocative as it is poignant. Read full review
91
The Film StageEd FranklFeb 29, 2020
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. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnFeb 29, 2020
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. Read full review
90
Film ThreatRay LoboMay 15, 2021
Iranian cinema has always been very good at reminding you of your humanity, and Rasoulof’s anthology plumbs those depths perfectly. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMay 14, 2021
When juxtaposed against a history of Iranian cinema that has often relied on child-centric allegory and non-specific narrative to make its societal critiques, There Is No Evil practically blisters with the intensity of specifically living in Iran as it exists now, as a state once believed to carry out the most executions of any country outside China. Read full review
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 29, 2020
There Is No Evil comes across as four films for the price of one, none of its segments anemic, and each contributing fresh insights to the paradoxes of capital punishment in Iran. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireMay 14, 2021
The pleasures of watching There Is No Evil—a title that grows more piercingly ironic as the film progresses—are considerable. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineDiego SemereneMar 4, 2020
The film grapples with the various shapes that guilt and honor (or lack thereof) might take in a context of state-sanctioned death. Read full review
80
The New YorkerRichard BrodyMay 17, 2021
The movie is also sparing with metaphors and symbols—though the few that Rasoulof builds into the texture of the drama, such as a view of Javad’s wet military uniform hanging from a tree and an image of a fox prowling around a farm, are piercingly effective. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergMay 15, 2021
To make a movie that ponders the moral rot of an unjust system while under the gun of that unjust system is courageous and artistically potent. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisMay 13, 2021
The Iranian production There is No Evil (Persian title: Satan Doesn’t Exist) may not revive the portmanteau film to its former glory (the comic 1963 Italian Oscar-winning trilogy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow being a stellar example), but it’s a comparatively solid quartet of short films that critically examine the country’s dehumanizing system of capital punishment, putting a human face on the citizen-executioner asked to carry out the all-too-frequently enacted death penalty. Read full review
60
Little White LiesMarina AshiotiDec 3, 2021
Despite an excessive 150-minute runtime, a fair share of abrupt tonal shifts and a somewhat heavy-handed execution of metaphors threatening to rob the anthology of power and cohesion, the dramatically consistent depictions of contempt, grief and rage bring an adequate sense of uniformity. Read full review
60
Screen DailyLee MarshallFeb 29, 2020
Although There Is No Evil is a brave and impassioned work, the seams show. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungFeb 29, 2020
Though the message comes across loud and clear, the four tales suffer from being narratively uneven, making the film’s two-and-a-half-hour running time seem long indeed. Read full review
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