Aviva and Eden’s dances — together and apart — mobilize Yakin’s film, and function as bodily mirrors and emotional mirages; gain and loss, self and love.

| Feb 7, 2024

Easily one of the best and most unique films of this or any other year.

| Original Score: 9/10 | May 11, 2022

The film is a cliched relationship drama obscured by so many bells and whistles, so much self-reflexive artistic intent...that it collapses under its own weight.

| Jun 5, 2021

Yoakin recounts a universal story of romance and relationship that's viscerally moving.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 7, 2021

This is not the last time director Yakin takes a sledgehammer to the fourth wall, and his deeply personal film is deeply exasperating at times, a bit indulgent and at least 20 minutes too long... But the film's big experiment feels only semi-interesting.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 30, 2021

This feature is for everyone who wants to see something different when they watch a movie.

| Dec 27, 2020

[Aviva] formulates a strange mix of meta-cinema, performance art, and relationship drama by deconstructing narrative conventions. Using sexuality and dance to express desires, longing, jealousy and love.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 27, 2020

It could have been clumsy, could have been a gimmick. Instead, it's another feather in the wings that lift this extraordinary film.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 23, 2020

Experimental, unexpected and wholly consuming.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 22, 2020

While this device may sound confusing, it fits right into the current moment of exploring gender fluidity and sexual identity...

| Jun 22, 2020

The movie ... feels as if it's dueling with itself -- and constantly losing.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 19, 2020

A transatlantic love story filled with passion and heartbreak, Aviva may seem unusual at first, but it will not only earn your attention, it will capture your heart.

| Jun 16, 2020

It's an ambitious piece, but in the dance between experimental ideas and grounded storytelling, "Aviva" should have listened to her body.

| Original Score: C+ | Jun 16, 2020

Sexy and often daring.

| Jun 12, 2020

A shape-shifting, fluid film that is more a feat of dance and choreography than of cinematic storytelling.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 12, 2020

Love it or hate it, it's... well, it's art. I loved it, warts and all. Perhaps Yakin has finally discovered his style.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 12, 2020

"Aviva" fails to find a deeply resonant rhythm.

| Jun 12, 2020

While not as compelling as it promises, it's an interesting experiment of personality shifts and psychological intersections.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jun 11, 2020

Its bold, energetic and progressive representation of gender and body politics is sure to be a modern classic in the making.

| Jun 11, 2020

Breaking the fourth wall immediately, casually addressing this loose and transparent structure with confidence and ease, Aviva shouldn't work. But it does, and wonderfully.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jun 11, 2020