REVIEW: It Was Just An accident

A bloodless revenge movie where the real violence isn’t physical, but emotional—the kind that simmers under the surface as people try (and often fail) to contain years of rage, pain, and doubt in front of the person who once destroyed them.

That’s the core dilemma at the heart of Jafar Panahi’s newest film, and it’s a brutal one. What starts as a clear-cut idea of revenge slowly mutates into something far more uncomfortable: the creeping realization that punishing your torturer might mean becoming something dangerously close to them. Not in method, obviously—there’s no dehumanizing torture here—but in spirit. And once that doubt takes hold, there’s no easy way out.

Panahi toys with the thriller genre but never fully commits to it. Instead, the film plays more like a psychological drama, following a group of people who believe they’ve found the man who once tortured them. They kidnap him, and from there, the movie becomes less about what they’ll do and more about whether they should do anything at all. Most of the tension comes from conversations, silences, and emotional outbursts as they wrestle with their anger, their thirst for vengeance, and the moral lines they’re terrified of crossing.

Visually, DP Amin Jafari does excellent work. The camera often reflects the characters’ mental states—tight, claustrophobic spaces that feel suffocating, or wide, empty landscapes where a single dead tree becomes the only thing breaking the frame. It’s subtle, but effective. The writing is just as strong, constantly keeping you off-balance. You genuinely don’t know where things are headed: will they go through with it, or will doubt win out?

The performances are a huge part of why this works. Vahid Mobasseri is especially strong as the man whose decision sets everything in motion, conveying guilt, fear, and inner conflict with quiet intensity. He feels like a genuinely good person who lets hatred cloud his judgment, dragging others into something dangerous. Mohammad Ali Azizi is excellent as the ticking time bomb of the group, his explosive personality repeatedly threatening to blow everything up. Panahi smartly uses him as a constant source of tension. And Narges Delaram Afshari delivers a powerful third-act moment, finally releasing years of bottled-up pain in a way that really lands.

The chemistry among the cast is solid across the board, and their dynamic feels painfully real. While the film does drag slightly in the second act, it never fully loses its grip.

All in all, this is a moving, thoughtful, and often tense film, anchored by strong performances, sharp writing, and confident direction. I’ve only seen two of Panahi’s films so far, but that’s already enough to understand why he’s held in such high regard.