[It] speaks to us with range and depth...realistic, moving, humanist portraits of (pre-pandemic) India.

| May 17, 2021

Chaitanya Tamhane's directorial feature debut (which he wrote too), proved to be a silent, observational, and devastating film.

| Mar 29, 2021

All the performances are stellar, considering many of them are non-actors. In the heart of it all is Vira Sathida. A real life activist, his rhythmic, infectious, biting songs come to life whenever he performs. I would love to see him perform for hours.

| Feb 14, 2021

Compelling performances from both professional and non-professional cast members help paint an indelibly human face on the type of predicament generally referred to as Kafkaesque.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 25, 2020

A beautiful and brilliant film from India. The objectivity and confidence of his fictional work, which follows the various participants in their daily lives, is astonishing for a filmmaker only 27 years old.

| Jul 8, 2020

An incisive upending of the nexus between legalese and tradition, Chaitanya Tamhane's authentic judicial drama gets into the cogs of India's censorship laws and their overlap with India's broken courts (and the people who keep them broken).

| Dec 19, 2019

Tamhane's approach to Court, and possibly life, is a refreshing one.

| Jun 30, 2019

It's an extraordinary feature debut by first-time director Chaitanya Tamhane.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jun 4, 2019

There's no outright villain here: it's the system that fails its people. Tamhane capably and quietly condemns the system with little drama and nary a "you can't handle the truth!" outburst.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Apr 17, 2019

Court isn't a typical courtroom drama.

| Aug 27, 2018

The great thing about this work is it quietly and gradually accumulates into a brilliant comedy about contemporary India, with its many social, urban, and cultural layers.

| Aug 23, 2018

"Court" exposes a feudal mentality that may be specific to India or applicable more widely to post-colonial countries around the world. I just wish the film had more confidence in its own strengths.

| Feb 15, 2018

Court not only mirrors the reality of court proceedings but also makes us question our own beliefs and notions.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 7, 2017

Court is a rare film that creates drama out of the humdrum lives of ordinary people, whose limited world view and biases affect the lives of others in more ways than they can imagine.

| Jun 6, 2017

The result provides a memorable introduction to a filmmaker clearly working in opposition to the lavish escapism Bollywood has enabled over the years.

| Dec 28, 2016

The deliberate pacing risks trying our patience, but it's an accurate reflection of a system in stasis.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 28, 2016

Chaitanya Tamhane's quietly brilliant Court takes an individual court case and, through following its laborious labyrinthine process, creates a damning j'accuse of wider Indian society.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 28, 2016

The film's semblance of casualness is winning. It seems to make itself up as it goes along. But this fly on this wall has keen eyes, keen hearing, a keen intelligence.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 28, 2016

A humane and absorbing big-city film.

| Dec 18, 2016

To borrow a phrase from a David Bowie song, Court is moviemaking at the speed of life, providing you still remember how life felt when moving at less than 100 miles an hour.

| Dec 12, 2016