'The Song of Sparrows' is a very moving film by the Iranian director Majid Majidi. It's realism strikes me with subtlety as it presents a portrait of poverty, child labor and parental sacrifice. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 4, 2020

At once dryly funny and deeply moving; an affecting portrait of an Iranian family as they deal with the struggles of every day life.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 7, 2019

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2011

[A]stonishes with me its simplicity, its uncomplicated wisdom, its visual salience...

| Sep 1, 2009

The lessons are unsubtle and the pace drags near the end, but Naji is wonderfully expressive, the production design is top-notch and the Iranian countryside is gorgeous.

| Aug 7, 2009

A touching tearjerker that's also a celebration of traditional values against the dehumanizing tendencies of modern urban life...with even the most obvious moments saved by an underlying sweetness and poignancy.

| Original Score: B | Jul 24, 2009

Achingly poetic in a way that recalls the Italian neo-realism of The Bicycle Thief.

| Jun 12, 2009

At times funny, sad, poignant and suspenseful, Sparrows is a showcase for Majidi's masterful storytelling -- and Naji's superb acting.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 12, 2009

At times tedious but ultimately beguiling, Song of Sparrows morphs from a sly dramedy about running a household into a fable about two ways of life (urban and rural) that can't coexist.

| Jun 12, 2009

It's sweet and has some sublime, poetic moments.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 12, 2009

...a very satisfying, sobering and hopeful film...

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 2, 2009

It's likable, but missable.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 29, 2009

The images in The Song of Sparrows have a poetic grace that's to be desired in storytelling.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 28, 2009

The goldfish flopping in the sun is an image typical of Majid Majidi's films, fable-like and seemingly simple even as it is also complex.

| May 21, 2009

takes place a half a world away in a land of ostrich farms and refrigerators delivered...on the back of a motorbike, but Karim's foibles, his worries and joys, will be recognizable to anyone...

| Original Score: B+ | May 17, 2009

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 15, 2009

It is somehow congenial to feel that we are watching a tale that could have been told elsewhere.

| May 6, 2009

Delicate and sturdy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 24, 2009

The Song of Sparrows is a sweet and uplifting humanistic fable that celebrates the joys of community and pastoral life over a harried and materialistic urban existence.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 16, 2009

This is the fourth collaboration for Naji and Majidi, and the actor and director feed off each other creatively, pushing the boundaries of the characters each time.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 9, 2009