I really like this film and I think [director] Wanuri Kahiu is definitely someone to watch.

| Sep 28, 2019

It's a film that is rushing with energy and life.

| Original Score: B | May 24, 2019

But to merely describe what happens in "Rafiki" would be to overlook its transporting sense of place, its striking visual pleasures and its credible and moving performances.

| May 9, 2019

For its formal simplicity and directness, "Rafiki" is a small revelation, not least because it marks the breakthrough of a filmmaker of such exhilarating, cheerfully courageous vision.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 7, 2019

While the tone of Rafiki is simple and direct, director Kahiu demonstrates a delicate touch.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 2, 2019

A lyrical ode to finding a kindred spirit amidst an uncaring majority.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 19, 2019

Rafiki hardly breaks new narrative ground, but Kahiu's fluid direction and wholly empathetic performances by Mugatsia and Munyiva make the movie special.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 18, 2019

The film is sharp at rendering the hesitancy of their flirtation, as well as the forces - parental expectations, religion, an ever-watchful gossip - arrayed against them.

| Apr 18, 2019

From its opening frames, Rafiki is bursting with life.

| Original Score: B | Apr 17, 2019

The film's slotting of two African women into a familiar romantic structure represents a radical and important upending of contemporary Kenyan sexual mores.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 17, 2019

Kahiu's film reinforces that being who you are and loving in spite of the opinions of others is still a revolutionary act.

| Nov 17, 2018

It's hard to escape the feeling that the film is basically an extended public service announcement; Kahiu has few discernible goals apart from drawing attention to an important subject.

| Oct 10, 2018

The story may be familiar - same-gender couple struggle with mean oldies - but it buzzes with such juice and joy that it will surely gain a cult following.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 27, 2018

Wanuri Kahiu's Rafiki, based on the short story "Jambula Tree" by Monica Arac de Nyeko, is a vibrant, pulsing piece of work, keying off the joy of young love and unexpected discovery.

| Sep 14, 2018

That Kenya is late to the women-coming-out film party is a function of its social and political structure; it doesn't lessen the courage and freshness of Kahui's filmmaking.

| May 18, 2018

The story's simplicity and directness are a big part of its charm.

| May 15, 2018

If the film is uneven-with such an exuberant beginning and disappointingly rote climax-that may simply be because [director Wanuri] Kahiu wanted to communicate as many truths of her home country as she could.

| May 10, 2018

For Kahiu, this sophomore feature should secure enough exposure to enable further, more ambitious vehicles for her direct, Afropop-infused style.

| May 10, 2018

[A] poignant but slender drama...

| May 9, 2018

Muatsia, with her tough gaze and somber asides, maintains a credibility that rescues the movie from cliché. By telling an old story of impossible love, Rafiki renews its purpose.

| Original Score: B- | May 9, 2018