It is montage heavy and toe-curlingly naive.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 21, 2016

It strives to be a rousing tale of rebellion, but the over-earnest result is more slow shuffle than kicky capoeira.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 21, 2016

There would seem to be only one thing that the act of dancing cannot free the characters in Desert Dancer from, and that's the movie they're in.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 17, 2015

Desert Dancer strays too frequently into melodrama to have much sticking power.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 16, 2015

In his feature film debut, director Richard Raymond keeps the story moving despite some dramatic cliches.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 10, 2015

Its depiction of the internal tensions in Iranian politics and culture is not what you'd call super-nuanced, but it is sympathetic to Iran as an entity.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 10, 2015

Reece Ritchie brings heart to the lead role, particularly in the decisive solo performance that caps the film. But that sequence is as expressive and alive as the rest of the supposedly movement-loving drama is static.

| Apr 9, 2015

"Desert Dancer" explores fascinating aspects of present-day Iran but suffers mightily from simplistic and sentimental tendencies.

| Apr 9, 2015

It's all over the place. All these are fine places to be when it comes to movies. It's just exhausting to try to be in all of them at once.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Apr 9, 2015

"Desert Dancer" does manage to movingly convey the chilling, ultimately triumphant experience of Ghaffarian's struggle for creative expression under a regime that tried to crush it.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 9, 2015

Movies about people trying to start dance companies tend to be as formulaic as sports movies, but "Desert Dancer" escapes the usual drawbacks - corniness and bad dancing - by the urgency of the context.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 9, 2015

Reduces a politically-charged tale of artistic triumph in the face of oppression to a series of bland platitudes that wouldn't be out of place on an inspirational poster on the wall of a guidance counselor's office.

| Original Score: C | Apr 9, 2015

"Desert Dancer" is a conventional protest drama, but it offers many magic moments - especially when co-stars Freida Pinto and Reece Ritchie perform sinuous routines. Or simply gaze into each other's eyes.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 8, 2015

Desert Dancer too often lapses into generic cinematic clichs, failing to live up to the dramatic potential of its subject matter.

| Apr 8, 2015

Richard Raymond's feature debut never overcomes a sluggish solemnity, the film's political points dulled by performances from Freida Pinto and Reece Ritchie which overvalue glum earnestness.

Full Review | Apr 8, 2015

As with so many "extraordinary" true stories, British director Richard Raymond's debut feature leaves you craving more truth and less canned inspirationalism.

| Apr 8, 2015

A little gem that sparkles brightly as it celebrates not just dance but unshackled, uncensored creative expression.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 8, 2015

The film plays too safe with its narrative. Fortunately, like its characters, it's most daring when it's in motion.

| Apr 7, 2015

The film's relentless turning of its characters' experience into platitudes and homilies is served for our too-easy consumption.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Apr 5, 2015