The little empathy that the opening of the coming of age story transmits to me, vanishes when I witness the triviality of innocence, the calculated sentimentality. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 6, 2020

Has an authenticity and sense of genuineness that is truly beautiful.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 6, 2019

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 24, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2011

| Original Score: B | Sep 7, 2011

A painless enough movie, which is precisely the problem

| Aug 27, 2009

Heavy on nostalgic charm, but a lovely and insightful portrait of children buffeted by their parents' leftist activism in the 1970's and of São Paolo's Jewish neighborhood.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 17, 2008

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| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Nov 8, 2008

You've heard this story before, but what makes The Year My Parents Went on Vacation worth seeing is the unfamiliar setting...the Jewish community of Sao Paolo.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Sep 19, 2008

a skillful combination of humor, sadness, and tension

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 25, 2008

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation is an appealing dramedy that delicately couches its political and social commentary in a coming of age tale.

| Jul 9, 2008

Steps into the shoes of youth remembered, a summer when a boy's wide eyes are opened further by disillusion--the final whistle sounds sharp and harsh, echoing long after the game's over. An elegant, reflective film that dekes around coming-of-age cliches.

Full Review | Jul 1, 2008

... a sharply drawn coming-of-age comedy-drama...

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 15, 2008

Joelsas' youthful exuberance carries the movie long enough to make this "Vacation" a rewarding trip.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 2, 2008

The comforting familiarity, even in a foreign country in a time of political strife, is what makes it quietly effective.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 1, 2008

Despite a few bits of low-key humor and some cheeky bits, the mostly charming film is actually meant to be taken seriously. And there are some poignant, surprisingly tender moments.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 1, 2008

Director and co-writer Cao Hamburger presents all of this in such a timid and sanitized manner that one would suspect childhood wasn't a messy affair. Unfortunately for Hamburger, we've all been there, done that.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 30, 2008

Their performances (Michel Joelsas, Daniela Piepszyk) %u2014 natural, poignant and wide-eyed about what life will serve up %u2014 are things of beauty.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 25, 2008

A Brazilian dramedy that touches on politics, sex, family and religion but is interested in them only to the extent that they rub off on the movie's people.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 18, 2008

An utterly convincing depiction of childhood loneliness and uncertainty, in a world I'd never seen onscreen: the Orthodox Jewish community of Sao Paulo.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 18, 2008