To flee or to resist? That’s the dilemma faced by self-imposed ‘prisoners’ in another tough wrestle with a corrupt political system.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 14, 2022

Not a lot happens, and this dissatisfaction may become a bit repetitive throughout the movie, but each well-drawn character offers a different view on the question of how people want to live their lives.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 9, 2022

A cautionary environmental fable where complex family dynamics and unresolved trauma threaten to destroy an idyllic paradise. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 5, 2022

Snail-paced drama of a family that movies from Beirut to the Lebanese sticks.

| Original Score: C | Sep 11, 2022

At once casual and complex, with streaks of magical realism as well as the non-magical kind. Its details of domestic dysfunction dovetail very nicely with the allegorical reflections on a whole nation’s beleaguered modernity.

| Sep 7, 2022

Prophetic film about how a family handles the encroachment of toxic waste upon their home.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Sep 6, 2022

Mounia Akl's film tackles an important and underdiscussed aspect of an important subject. How do you persist as people, as a family, when the world seems to be falling apart around you?

| Sep 2, 2022

Akl succeeds best in depicting the intimate family dynamics.

| Aug 26, 2022

A slight melodrama about family frictions. [Full review in Spanish]

| Aug 19, 2022

Mounia Akl’s wry drama follows an idealistic off-the-grid Lebanese family discovering its own contradictions when a massive garbage dump is built next to their rural haven.

| Original Score: A- | Aug 10, 2022

A promising debut from a new international voice.

| Original Score: 7.5/10 | Jul 21, 2022

It's skilfully shot in a terrific location, with a few surreal touches that reveal the characters' internal journeys.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 20, 2022

Much of it works some of the time, at least enough of the time to keep things moving and interesting.

| Jul 19, 2022

Part family drama, part political statement, it asks at what point isolation becomes a selfish choice instead of a protective one, and if it’s possible to love your country but also hide from it.

| Jul 18, 2022

Working with powerhouse performances from Oscar-nominated Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki and Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, Mounia Akl comes out swinging as the next big thing in Middle Eastern cinema.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 15, 2022

Akl, making her directorial debut, takes resourceful advantage of her freedom as a filmmaker, creating some startling effects.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 15, 2022

Finding a balance between surreal whimsy and sociopolitical provocation, this multilayered drama features relatable characters and thoughtful cultural insight.

| Jul 15, 2022

[There's] an encroaching feeling of imprisonment, as well as doom...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 15, 2022

Akl's assured direction captures the promise of wanting change as well as the disappointment of not quite knowing how to achieve it.

| Jul 14, 2022

A smart and sensitive film.

| Jul 14, 2022