Critic Reviews
70
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
9(90%)
mixed
1(10%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 10 Critic Reviews
100
Truly magnificent.
80
Poignant though it is, the movie is the opposite of depressing. There is too much life in it.
75
Haroun is deft at handling the joys and pain of childhood. He neither condescends nor ­­over-sentimentalizes. It is a story of separation anxiety (for Amine) and coming of age (for Tahir) and it's universal.
70
Haroun's film is both touching and, ultimately, almost perversely optimistic.
70
By way of a tragic left hook, Haroun's relaxed movie climaxes back where it began, on the devastated home ground. The journey, however pessimistic, is like a gentle handshake.
70
Haroun and cinematographer Abraham Haile Biru carefully frame their characters with a painterly elegance that is at times truly startling.
70
The story of the film is a quiet local tale; the directing is sophisticated.
70
Abouna starkly defines the masculine and feminine influence in raising children, and what happens when they're not so complementary.
70
Understated but affecting.
50
This modest little film out of Africa suffers from largely rudderless direction, relying for any sense of profundity on the breathtaking beauty of Abraham Haile Biru's cinematography.
