--- title: "The Wind Will Carry Us: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-wind-will-carry-us/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-wind-will-carry-us" critics_score: 82 critics_reviews: 10 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Wind Will Carry Us (1999): what the critics said Critics' score 82 from 10 reviews: 9 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics respond warmly to The Wind Will Carry Us, with praise clustering around Kiarostami’s landscape photography, precise compositions and patient attention to everyday life. The reviews find humour and compassion in an approach that puts observation ahead of conventional storytelling. Several also admire the way unseen people and off-screen events ask viewers to fill in the gaps. For its admirers, the film’s apparent simplicity allows for a demanding but rewarding consideration of life and death. The divide concerns how much that patience yields. Most critics welcome the ambiguity and unhurried sense of time, though some stress the demands these place on viewers. Eye for Film supplies the lone negative assessment, finding the story opaque and repetitive while still admiring the village and countryside. The spread is therefore wide but lopsided: the principal dissent rejects qualities that the other reviews largely regard as strengths. ## Empire — William Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 95/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic calls the film utterly brilliant, praising its humanism and its tribute to the Kurdish people. They also single out its challenge to intellectual torpor and its preference for everyday observation over conventional narrative. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/wind-will-carry-us-review/) ## IndieWire — Mark Peranson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 28 July 2000. Peranson calls the film probably a masterpiece and Kiarostami’s finest work since Close-Up. He praises its depth, exacting visual composition, and indelible images. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-all-hail-kiarostami-the-wind-will-carry-us-81507/) ## The New York Times — A. O. Scott Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 28 July 2000. Scott praises the film as funny, accessible, and visually arresting, and recommends seeing it in a theater. He singles out Kiarostami’s vivid landscapes and immersive, poetic sense of time. [Read the review](https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/072800wind-film-review.html) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). The critic calls it a subtle, richly rewarding work of genius. The review singles out its deceptively simple approach and opens by noting a long shot of a car crossing a dusty landscape. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-wind-will-carry-us) ## The AV Club — Keith Phipps Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 29 March 2002. Phipps finds the film consistently comic, challenging, and deeply rewarding. He especially praises Kiarostami’s use of nature and the film’s late action that reframes what came before. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-wind-will-carry-us-1798194969) ## Slant Magazine — Jordan Cronk Rating 4/5. 12 May 2025. Cronk presents the film as a defining, career-summing work by Kiarostami. He praises its careful visual form and the Criterion restoration’s vivid image and richly detailed sound, while noting the loss of extras from the prior release. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-wind-will-carry-us-blu-ray-review-abbas-kiarostami/) ## The Guardian — Philip French Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 July 2001. French presents the film as masterly and lucid, with a mysterious, disturbingly comic tone. He singles out its unsettling relationship between sophisticated strangers and the inhabitants of a remote village. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jul/01/dvdreviews.reviews) ## Total Film — Total Film Rating 4/5. 22 September 2000. The review finds the film compassionate, amusing and moving. It praises the ambiguous protagonist, off-screen events that invite viewers to fill in gaps, and landscape photography. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-wind-will-carry-us-review/) ## Variety — Deborah Young Fi1m's normalised score 78/100 (inferred from the text). 13 September 1999. Festival review. Young finds the film a subtle, demanding meditation on life and death, likely to please Kiarostami’s international audience. She particularly praises how the film’s offscreen figures and events draw viewers into filling its deliberate gaps. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/the-wind-will-carry-us-1200459092/) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 19 January 2001. The critic is largely unimpressed by the film’s opaque, repetitive story, though he notes its humane conclusion. He praises the beauty of the village and surrounding countryside. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-wind-will-carry-us-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-wind-will-carry-us.md