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The Forgiven

100 Movies of 2021

The Forgiven

2021

John Michael McDonagh

Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Caleb Landry Jones, Saïd Taghmaoui ...

5.6

1,855

Drama. Thriller On the verge of divorce, wealthy couple David (Fiennes) and Jo (Chastain) are on their way to a lavish weekend party, and accidentally run over and kill a young Moroccan man trying to sell fossils by the roadside. They put his body in their car and arrive at the party at a mansion hosted by a worldly gay couple.

	Author	Review
United States	John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter	"Scripted, directed and acted with intelligence and panache, it’s a very grown-up film but never a bore (...) Less mysterious and tightly wound than McDonagh’s excellent Calvary, it resonates with that 2014 drama in surprising ways."	POS
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"Undeniably wicked yet deliciously prickly in its portrayal of adult affairs (...) McDonagh has the nerve to make these characters deeply off-putting, if not downright unlikable, to his audience. "	POS
United States	Jesse Hassenger Paste Magazine	"'The Forgiven' is forgettable (...) An ending that refuses to settle for soft, squishy lessons. It's so distinctive, in fact, that it threatens to overshadow the rest of the movie"	POS
United States	Christy Lemire rogerebert.com	"McDonagh’s film is well-crafted throughout but ultimately has nothing fresh or insightful to say about the ugliness of white privilege (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Jason Bailey The Playlist	"McDonagh should count himself lucky for landing Fiennes, who invests what could’ve been a one-note character with genuine complexity and depth."	NEU
United Kingdom	Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"Chastain and Fiennes light up darkly comic thriller (...) It’s a strange watch – unsure of itself at times, hugely, bullishly confident at others – but one that’s never less than curiously compelling (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Ryan Lattanzio IndieWire	"Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes Scorch in a Debaucherous Class Satire (...) McDonagh delivers a bloody Moroccan bacchanal that pits East against West with the "Calvary" director's typically ruthless precision."	POS
United States	Chase Hutchinson Collider	"An uncertain and meandering work that struggles to craft a compelling story when intermixed with ineffective commentary"	NEG
Canada	Chris Bumbray JoBlo	"A surprisingly empathetic film, but what's interesting is that it almost could have been set 100 years ago amongst colonials somewhere else with minimal changes. The story it tells has happened before and will happen again"	POS
United Kingdom	Trevor Johnston Time Out	"[It] proves more engrossing and haunting in retrospect than when you're watching it. In an era of instant gratification, that, for all the film's evident flaws, is worth chin-stroking respect (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Steve Pond The Wrap	"It takes extremely questionable behavior and makes it intriguing [and] off-putting (...) It forces us to watch as privilege begins to shatter and people for whom everything feels inconsequential have to deal with consequences"	POS
United States	Robert Daniels Los Angeles Times	"McDonagh's methods can't distinguish the film from the long list of stories about white folks learning lessons at the expense of brown people. There may have been higher ideals in mind, but [it] fails to gracefully reach them"	NEG
United States	Pete Hammond Deadline	" what McDonagh has wrought is a look into ourselves no matter what class we are in (...) A rare and thoroughly adult drama offering much to think about."	POS
Australia	Nadine Whitney The Curb	"Although not a failure 'The Forgiven' is a little too thin to be the type of film that it sets out to be. It’s nasty, but not nasty enough, it’s tense, but the tension wanes"	NEU
United States	Rex Reed The New York Observer	"'The Forgiven' is a rewarding experience to watch Ralph Fiennes play the emotional subtexts of such a complicated role with such power and nuance (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Ethan Vestby The Film Stage	"It's a work by people who lack the perspective to say or present anything an audience looking to have its worldview reaffirmed wouldn't already agree with"	NEG
United States	Jack Smart AV Club	"The film looks and sounds great, with cinematographer Larry Smith (Only God Forgives) capturing bright reds and blues amid the sweltering desert, and Lorne Balfe’s music immersing us in Northern Africa"	POS
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"Even considering that numerous subplots might benefit from a mini-series approach to the material, the transformation of the central character is handled in a powerful, credible manner (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United States	Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times	"Wonderful film noir feels like something straight out of the 1940s (...) Suffice to say 'The Forgiven' holds us in its grips until the very last frame (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Mark Hanson Slant	"Whatever satire of white elite society is intended by 'The Forgiven' has been blunted by monotony (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEG

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