At first, I was fully on board with the film’s fiercely offbeat premise and barrage of uncomfortably obscure moments. It's when the whole thing takes a left turn into a land of underground performance art that I wanted to throw something at the screen.

| Apr 15, 2025

It really had no story and I felt embarrassed for all involved.

| Mar 7, 2025

Amanda Kramer’s films are some of the few that I would actually call Lynchian, because they are not at all like his films, but are so singular in their execution and logic that they could only be made by Kramer.

| Feb 28, 2025

Kramer’s odd and unclassifiable story is filled with moments of absurdity equally likely to result in delight and consternation, but it remains perplexingly engrossing throughout,

| Original Score: 7.3/10 | Feb 27, 2025

The alienating nature of the premise is what makes it fascinating, pushing us to question how we want to be seen and experienced as people in the world.

| Feb 13, 2025

Amanda Kramer was already one to watch and her fifth dramatic feature proves she is an unmatched voice in American indie cinema.

| Feb 12, 2025

Only Amanda Kramer could make me believe that being inanimate feels more exciting than being alive. It's anything but wooden.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 11, 2025

The movie can drag in moments, particularly because of its lengthy narration, but its strange vision is weirdly charming and eventually pushes towards a surprisingly intense climax.

| Feb 10, 2025

Part experimental theater, part absurd tragicomedy, By Design is an oddball of a film — but it manages to express an untenable aspect of the feminine mystique with a unique blend of gonzo charm.

| Feb 10, 2025

Told with steadfast conviction, the film is inventive and unique, but ultimately lacks cohesion, resulting in a disjointed narrative that’s perhaps too abstract for its own good.

| Feb 8, 2025

By Design may not hit all the right notes, but it’s undeniably a visual and thematic experiment in exploring the female experience in a new way.

| Feb 7, 2025

Kramer does not provide that angst or expressive fury that made her work so entrancing and, somehow, intoxicating. But what she misses in fury, Kramer provides in (necessary) opaqueness, to which it works both to its benefit and against.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 6, 2025

Offering a twist on the body-swap genre, Amanda Kramer’s Sundance Next entry By Design feels, at first glance, more suited to the stage or gallery than cinema.

| Original Score: C | Feb 5, 2025

By Design is about as bizarre a film as it gets. Make of that what you will.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 5, 2025

By Design meanders, not fully taking advantage of how off-the-wall (or off-the-chair) this concept is

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 4, 2025

A strangely poignant meditation on self-worth, social performance, and the unsettling realization that, sometimes, people really do prefer objects over other people.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 3, 2025

To respond negatively to Kramer’s ingenuity as a filmmaker, especially here, is to endure self-inflicted harm.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 3, 2025

By Design has a lot to say and does so in a dryly comic way that both appeals to audiences with its satirical metaphors and alienates them via its performance art affectations, interpretative dance, and glacial pacing.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jan 31, 2025

Amanda Kramer has no problems paying homage to the “what the heck?” absurdism that marked the late, great David Lynch’s most mystifying works with her latest feature, By Design.

| Jan 30, 2025

By Design’s aridity prevents it from ever being a particularly pleasant experience, but its intellectualism will keep audiences stimulated and invested in unraveling the fabric of Kramer’s unusual construction.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 30, 2025