Like ghosts, her films are traces, fragments of lives, histories, and emotions that refuse to fade into oblivion....operating between the realms of the living and the dead, the past and the present, the material world and the spiritual...

| Feb 19, 2025

Atlantics is rooted in the dangerous realities of migration, but it's also a movie about the smudgy space between life and death, and the irresistible pull of young love.

| Aug 1, 2024

Diop’s bold choices exude confidence. Her occasionally oblique storytelling trusts the intelligence of her audience; what may initially appear as superfluous puzzle pieces prove essential when they finally snap in place to complete the bigger picture.

| Jul 22, 2023

The metaphor-rich imagery speaks to many of the feelings at the heart of Diop’s film – loneliness, betrayal, an ever-present longing. But they also convey a silent rage towards the many injustices vividly portrayed throughout this haunting tale.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 19, 2022

An almost intoxicating experience

| Original Score: 8/10 | May 13, 2022

Atlantics is a gorgeous, poetic supernatural romance drama infused with an astute social commentary. A superb feature debut by Mati Diop with a strong force of female creativity behind the camera.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 23, 2022

Diop's use of landscape, slow moments, and sound design weave together a fable about a time and a place that feel real and magical...

| Original Score: 80/100 | Jan 14, 2022

There's a moment that calls to mind that moment in Beloved where Baby Suggs leads the women together, fixing their voices on a reconciliation with the suffering of the world, and it hits you like a collapsing building.

| Sep 10, 2021

It ventures into a mix of genres to offer underground readings on class struggle, immigration, and the social condition of Senegalese women, but its narrative lacks emotionality and rarely escapes irregularity. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jul 11, 2021

A fantastic blend of romance, social commentary, and the supernatural, that leaves a lasting impression.

| Original Score: 8.5 / 10 | Jun 24, 2021

Mati Diop's haunting Senegalese supernatural drama stages a tender ghost story to spotlight issues of migration, refugee crises, loss and intimate grief.

| Oct 28, 2020

A poetic package crafted by writer/director Mati Diop.

| Sep 23, 2020

The film would end up being just another genre-bending experiment if it wasn't for the documentary undercurrent that manifests all along its duration, or by how it finds in this documentary style an authentically fantastic edge [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6.5/10 | Aug 19, 2020

The film is moving and memorable.

| Aug 6, 2020

Haunting each of its viewers in a way that can only be described as personal, Atlantics is a great start to a bright future for filmmaker Diop, as she is using the medium to tell a confident story that she knows best.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 29, 2020

The stark reality of life in the post-colonial, post-industrial landscape of Dakar is transformed into the magical and meditative ... and Diop elevates the film from a sequence of events to a state of mind.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 23, 2020

It's a joy to find a film that's brave enough to take chances, whether for better or for worse.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 8, 2020

Rich soaking colors, lots of shots which emphasize the obstructions of the social/physical environment...

| Apr 28, 2020

Diop's ability to alchemise her supernatural narrative with such effective social commentary is something very special.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 24, 2020

This complicated but beautiful exercise in cinematography never denies the heart of its story. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Apr 17, 2020