The collision of beautiful aesthetics and ugly reality make for a fascinating dichotomy that sits at the heart of this film; behind Brazil's glossy veneer is, unfortunately, an ugly truth.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 31, 2021

There's no happiness to be found here - the boy smiles, winningly, maybe twice in the entire film - but some redemption in the passing beauty of the skilful filmmaking and the charisma of the leading actor, Christian Malheiros.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 7, 2020

Although it was developed and made with the involvement of teenagers supported by a Unicef project, this Brazilian drama is not some rough-and-ready student film.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 7, 2020

Despite its apparent simplicity, Sócrates has a richly textured emotional range. First-time director Alexandre Moratto accomplishes a great deal using a limited arsenal of tools.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 4, 2020

Not a huge amount may happen in terms of plot and Moratto keeps his storyline light on its feet, but the situation and emotions feel real and raw.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 4, 2020

Socrates left me wondering if it was slightly underdeveloped as a feature project. But plenty of glossier and more finished films don't have its beating compassionate heart.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 3, 2020

If one coup of Moratto's film is our instant bond with star Christian Malheiros, another is that a film can feel so measured with this much drama in such close quarters.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 2, 2020

A potent and quietly enthralling drama that uses its loose, naturalistic performances to tell a story of a society that refuses to take responsibility.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 2, 2020

This surprising through-line works, though; carried, along with so many things, by Malheiros' moving debut performance.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 24, 2020

The film crams a lot of hardship into its 70 minutes, as well as an abundance of humanity.

| Aug 20, 2020

Although scripted with plenty of incident, Socrates presents a mediocre conclusion. However, that aspect doesn't undermine the severity and importance of the topics addressed.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 10, 2020

An intimate and compelling film. Despite the low budget it does what it has to to tell its tale. Really opens the viewers' hearts and minds to the precarious place of many youth around the world.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 2, 2020

The story is slight, the themes overly familiar, but the film's deep compassion for its subjects redeems it.

| Original Score: B- | Oct 16, 2019

Trading on sentimentality, this type of storytelling coerces viewers by projecting social consciousness through juvenile media icons. Above all, the ploy is politically devious; the idea of innocence is manipulated as rhetoric.

| Sep 25, 2019

This brave little film, a tale of an uncomprehending hero whose every step seemingly is a misstep, is not unlike the best offerings of Italian neorealism of the post-war years.

| Sep 9, 2019

A work whose accomplishments signal a director of great promise.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 21, 2019

With an authenticity rarely seen in contemporary cinema, it examines the lives of those that struggle to survive in ecosystems that function according to their own decrepit principles.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Aug 20, 2019

The hand-held camera is the best way Socrates' trip could have been [filmed]. The protagonist's erratic evolution splices with its dynamic movement. [Full review in Spanish]

| Aug 15, 2019

This passionate first feature crams a lot of drama into its brief 71 minutes.

| Aug 15, 2019

It's authentic, for sure, but as a story about a character juggling grief and poverty and uncertainty, the movie feels as if it's just scratching the surface of its possibilities.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 9, 2019