The Forgiveness of Blood Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The fascinating pic is filled with eye-pleasing location shots.
Full Review
| Original Score: A-
Scene-Stealers.com
It's a searing portrait of a dangerous generational divide that ruins lives, told with a gentle touch.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Observer [UK]
Has an earthy whiff of authenticity. But it's seriously lacking in incident and dramatic drive. Admirable work by British cinematographer Rob Hardy, though.
This is London
A slow but totally authentic-looking film with an excellent cast, not all of whom are professionals.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Guardian [UK]
Joshua Marston hops on another subculture - Albanian blood feuds - and operates sensitively once again in the space between 21st-century ethnographer and enlightened genre director.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Financial Times
The plot comes to a quiet boil. Then unfortunately it falls off the stove.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
ViewLondon
This dark and dismal Albanian drama has some admirable performances but ultimately, the film itself lacks any real spark and becomes a little self-pitying.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Little White Lies
Sticks with you, even though the ending is not entirely satisfying.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
The List
[A] compelling foreign language drama that unfolds beyond the borders of the First World.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Top Critic
Total Film
Even if it lacks a stand-out turn it's still a grippingly authentic slice of life.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
Runs deepest as a vicious twist on the coming-of-age teen movie and when it offers up small moments within its near-mythic feud. Here, revenge is a dish served hot-blooded. It's the sharp slaps of betrayal and yearnings for the impossible that chill.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Without resorting to didactic exposition, Marston manages to teach us a great deal about Albanian law and custom, and to make this utterly foreign culture explicable to popcorn-munching American moviegoers.
Full Review
| Original Score: 89/100
Film Journal International
Joshua Marston's follow-up to his stunning Maria Full of Grace debut gets high marks for nice performances and immersion into a remote Albanian village, but narrative deficiencies render it a disappointment.
Playback:stl
...honors the virtues of small-town life as well as the beauty of the Albanian countryside, without being blind to the potentially tragic outcomes of adherence to a rigid code of honor.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8/10
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A memorable portrait of a society and the demands it makes on those caught up in it.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
We don't see any blood, or much forgiveness either, but we do witness something far more resonant - a young generation caught between the rock of tradition and the hard place of modernity.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
A heartbreaking Albanian film that counts the toll a family feud takes on all involved.
The leads -- both non-actors -- hit sharp, natural notes.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Tradition can be dangerous as well as dumb. "The Forgiveness of Blood" is about a modern kid in an old-world society. It's a terrible fit.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
