35 Shots of Rum would seem to be a radical departure for director Denis, a warm, intimate, minor key domestic drama which borrows much of its internal plot mechanics from Ozu’s masterful Late Spring. A closer examination reveals that not to be the case.

| May 27, 2022

The result marks one of [Claire] Denis's smaller films--and one of [Alex] Descas's best and most subtle performances.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 16, 2021

Said to be an homage to Ozu, 35 rhums comfortably slips in to the universality of human conditions. Paper lanterns in Germany, rice cookers in an African household in France are completely in harmony with their surroundings. It's a beautiful film.

| Mar 24, 2021

It's a remarkably nice picture, with people who are for a change not out to make each other's lives deliberately miserable.

| Jan 17, 2020

Isn't so much a film as it is a mirror, one that invites us to look inside and find ourselves, drawing us into its own tremulous, careworn beauty.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 6, 2019

If you enjoy discovering with images what a thousand words cannot say, don't miss this delightful work by Claire Denis. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 14, 2018

Over the course of this 100 minute film, a father (Alex Descas in an understated, near mute, performance), slowly comes to understand his daughter's need for independence.

| Sep 18, 2017

35 Shots of Rum is the story of how you gradually figure out how these characters fit together. It's the quiet, profound, beautifully observed story of how they figure themselves out.

| Jun 13, 2016

A sort of ballet of emotions, executed with weightless grace and poise.

| Sep 24, 2014

Those acquainted only with Claire Denis' more frenetic work will be surprised, and moved, by her contemplative '35 Shots of Rum/35 Rhums.'

| Dec 13, 2013

Denis sees human interactions with an uncommon clarity of vision. Her great talent, as evident as ever in this, one of her greatest films, is her ability to allow an audience to see those relationships in the same quietly revelatory way she does.

| Original Score: 9.2/10 | Jul 4, 2010

Those who go into it expecting to see a smart character piece and those who are patient will find the well-acted feature rewarding, even emotionally satisfying.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 13, 2010

The film's placid, minimalist façade masks a complex story

| Original Score: 8/10 | May 1, 2010

The overall effect of Denis's movie duplicates that unique and wonderful Ozu effect.

| Original Score: 9/10 | May 1, 2010

The kind of precious quiet film that rarely gets made and is worth savoring for its alluring inner beauty.

| Original Score: A | Apr 19, 2010

A wonder of minimalism, Claire Denis' 35 Shots of Rum...quietly observes the lives of several Africans living in a Paris suburb.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 12, 2010

...a character-based story told at a human scale by a director (Claire Denis, who also co-wrote the script) who lets the story develop at an unhurried pace...

| Original Score: 8/10 | Feb 12, 2010

Claire Denis, an acclaimed French director, makes films that defy the rules of Hollywood.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 11, 2010

If every film about simple, quotidian issues was this daring in its execution... world cinema would be in a much healthier place.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jan 28, 2010

It's a beautiful picture but very quietly so, and definitely not for the ADHD set.

| Jan 26, 2010