Documentary MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. makes a case for our own self-reflection: What do we owe the 'Paper Planes' pop star?

| Oct 26, 2018

If there is one note that rings clear through all the xeroxed, glitchy, abrasive background noise, it is that of authenticity and sincerity.

| Original Score: B+ | Oct 13, 2018

[An] unpolished but ultimately intriguing film...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 5, 2018

Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. is an illuminating and enjoyable portrait of one of the most interesting pop musicians of this century who, even after this, remains inscrutable in many of the ways that matter.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 4, 2018

It is fascinating to watch M.I.A. develop into middle-age as, inevitably, the sum of her own best efforts.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 4, 2018

Inspires deep respect for the fierce and independent artist she is.

| Oct 3, 2018

It is the synthesis of these contradictions, and how they've illuminated M.I.A.'s career path that makes up the spine of Loveridge's fascinating portrait.

| Sep 28, 2018

The thoughtfully assembled story of a young, opinionated and infinitely talented immigrant woman.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 28, 2018

The documentary elicits some viewer indignation on her behalf, but overall, it's not a very inspired piece of work.

| Sep 27, 2018

A lucid crystallization of both Arulpragasam's private life and her public mission, Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. offers an intimate profile of a righteously modern renegade without ever feeling like propaganda or a plea to stream her latest album on Spotify.

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 26, 2018

It is very much the MIA story told from the MIA viewpoint.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 24, 2018

An intimate, illuminating doc that puts the focus on M.I.A.'s activism instead of her music and is, in some ways, all the more admirable for it.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 21, 2018

At a time when pop profiles are increasingly bland self-promotion...this fascinating film from Stephen Loveridge is unafraid to mix the personal with the political and the painfully intimate.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 21, 2018

Perhaps there is just too much MIA for one film to handle. One thing's for sure, in an era of manufactured pop stars, she is resplendently unfiltered.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 20, 2018

Couldn't it have pushed more on the doors of debate? Questioned more the motives - lightly interrogated - of the singer's political activism?

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 19, 2018

Well put together and packed with lots of revealing behind-the-scenes footage.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 18, 2018

The awkwardness of growing up can be doubly so when you're an immigrant, but when those moments are thrown up on the big screen, they transcend into a point of pride.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 26, 2018

[Stephen] Loveridge's movie is a fantastic and kinetic fulfillment of Maya Arulpragasam's desire, back then, to be heard as more than an entertainer.

| Apr 2, 2018

Stephen Loveridge fully understands that even the trifurcated title of his film may not be entirely equipped at capturing the extent of M.I.A.'s many-faceted identity.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 20, 2018

As a raw document of Arulpragasm's life it's a treasure trove of intimate insights... The only problem is its disinterest in her actual artistic process.

| Mar 8, 2018