Critic Reviews

Bercot is able to craft a believable arc within her protagonist, allowing for a gradual character progression rather than one that is abrupt and difficult to reckon with.

Mr. Paradot’s performance is so viscerally intense that there is no escaping its force.

Bercot's solidly engaging if fairly routine social-realist drama mainly stands out as an actor's showcase.

Equally touching and disturbing, the French film Standing Tall is an outstanding work of social realism by actress and writer-turned-director Emmanuelle Bercot.

Standing Tall is indeed tough going, yet it’s illuminating and ultimately even a bit hopeful.

In a smartly written, evenly wrought drama, the newly discovered wunderkind Rod Paradot stunningly portrays a troubled youth who makes Eminem’s 8 Mile protagonist look like a boy scout in comparison.

Standing Tall can’t be faulted for energy and for seriousness - and offers a rare case of a troubled-teen drama in which the justice system is seen as entirely benevolent, and a source of succour to troubled souls.

Bercot studiously avoids the sort of catharsis-oriented pop psychology the genre so often peddles.

Paradot exposes every last nerve and manages to be appropriately sensitive and confused between outbursts of rage. He benefits, too, from direction (by On My Way's Emmanuelle Bercot) that's unafraid to make Malony look terrible.

It is a high-minded, often touching movie which replaces the nihilism and miserabilism often to be found in social realism, and replaces them with a positive vision of what the state can – and can’t – do to help.