Seydou Sarr is sensational in Io Capitano, Matteo Garrone’s overly refined but ultimately harrowing journey of migration.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 3, 2024

The film combines elements of The Swimmers and Slumdog Millionaire, stories of survival and cleverness, for an affirming experience that transcends its miserable setup and ensuing events.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 23, 2024

Its insistence on portraying the bleakness of contemporary migration may border on excessive, but it certainly captures the humanity of its subject through its organic character arcs and strong performances.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 19, 2024

The cinematography is exceptional, capturing the beauty of African and Italian landscapes and combining magical realism effects that add an additional layer to the realistic drama of the migration experience. [Full review in Spanish]

| Jul 15, 2024

The inexperienced thespian kid leads give commanding performances.

| Original Score: B | Jun 28, 2024

Io Capitano is not an easy watch, as it unfailingly shows humanity at its absolute worst.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 18, 2024

Just about earns the catharsis that gives the film its title... but its culmination feels dishonest

| Original Score: 2 | Jun 2, 2024

After too many seasons where the word “immigrant” is a label on undifferentiated figures in a news story or a hate-filled punchline in a political speech, Garrone’s greatest service is the bracing reminder that these are people just like us.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 20, 2024

The real skill of this film lies in Garrone’s abilty to take us to the edge of despair and engineer a rescue through an unexpected act of kindness or a stroke of luck, let alone a small but mesmerising dream sequence.

| Apr 19, 2024

Io Capitano has that color palette that would make Sean Baker proud, and that active mise-en-scène very distinctive of Italian cinema, a frame brimming with color and movement, the perfect actor blocking and scene composition.

| Apr 17, 2024

Between the merciless desert conditions and brutal people smuggler gangs in this compelling refugee odyssey, it is a wonder that anyone survives before they even reach the Mediterranean

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 10, 2024

This is a film that, for all its brutal horrors, keeps a kernel of hope and faith in the inherent decency of humankind (or some of it at least).

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 7, 2024

A really joyous film... that increasingly becomes a confronting, realistic of the horrors of people trying to make the sea voyage... powerfully done with out-of-this-world cinematography.

| Apr 7, 2024

Recent years have seen superb cinematic portraits of the migrant experience in Europe, but Io Capitano gives us the most vivid rendering of the perilous journey itself and is all the more valuable for it.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 5, 2024

The most affecting image always remains Seydou’s expressive face, and his desire to not just survive but to help others along the way. Somehow, in the face of all that he endures, he never loses that innate compassion.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 5, 2024

Io Capitano is an astonishing achievement. This is – at times – a tough-to-watch story, but there is something unbreakable and defiantly alive being shown here too.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 5, 2024

The hell of the long journey is broken up by scenes of magical realism that prevent it being unbearable. But it is still a hard watch, particularly knowing that these painful journeys are still being undertaken, hopefully or desperately.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 5, 2024

The film makes brilliant if often harrowing cinema. But Garrone’s boldest strokes are also subtle.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 4, 2024

Newcomer actor Seydou Sarr offers an astounding performance in this urgent and emotive film that tackles Europe's migration crisis with a deep sense of empathy. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 3, 2024

The film – which is inflected with flashes of magic realism – derives most of its power from the empathy his young cast generate as their characters hold on to their humanity in the face of an indifferent world intent on stripping it from them.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 3, 2024