“Topside” embodies everything I love about independent cinema. It tells a fiercely intimate story without any obligations to studio guidelines or genre expectations.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 16, 2022

Topside is a masterpiece of the marginalized world rarely seen. It represents a major cinematic achievement by very talented creators. It gets my highest recommendation.

| Original Score: 10/10 | Apr 8, 2022

Topside is a movie that combines its aching childlike innocence, slowly being stripped away to the raw bone, with an unforgiving environment made and populated by negligent adults.

| Apr 3, 2022

A mixture of Good Time and Room, theres a strong onscreen bond between mother and daughter which drives the emotions of the film.

| Apr 2, 2022

The emphasis on closeups and hand-held camerawork creates a sense of gritty intimacy, but its the expressive performances that lend authenticity to a harrowing and insightful look at survival on the socioeconomic margins.

| Apr 2, 2022

An affecting, if distressing, glimpse into an appalling situation that, known as real, deserves more attention than it actually gets.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 1, 2022

The film does take us into the darkest underbelly of human survival under the streets of the greatest city in the world. For the destitute, it is far from that as they eke out a survival existence, so I tell those accusers to buzz off.

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 31, 2022

Despite the semi-fantastic setting Topside unfolds with an almost documentary honesty and lack of pretension. The visual details, cinematography and unforced performances exude a deeper reality.

| Original Score: B | Mar 25, 2022

This is a first feature for co-directors Held and Logan George, and while small, it is something of a knockout.

| Mar 25, 2022

Topside is a harrowing portrayal of poverty and destitution. The majority of the film is seen from the perspective of an innocent child. She's taken from one dangerous situation to another. My heart ached the entire time.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 25, 2022

The setting plumbs the depths but the movie stays on the surface.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 25, 2022

Held and Farmer have natural onscreen chemistry, bringing an almost docudrama realism to their characters’ shared fate even as it teeters on tragedy.

| Mar 25, 2022

The movie ... creates an atmosphere of dread, despair, and desperation, but it offers ... little insight into these characters and this particular way of life...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 25, 2022

In the end, the most alluring aspect of “Topside” — its capacity for embodied feeling — is perhaps the one that was most cut short.

| Mar 24, 2022

Topside is ... an unflinching slice-of-life about a homeless mother and daughter living in the subway tunnels below New York City ... that immerses viewers in a world full of aching poverty and fierce love.

| Mar 24, 2022

Poetic and vibrant filmmaking

| Mar 24, 2022

Every element of the production is outstanding But without the belief we invest in Held and Farmer, the film would never work and the filmmaker and her young charge are heartbreakingly real.

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 23, 2022

Topside is chasing suspense for all the wrong reasons

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 23, 2022

In shining a stark and unflinching light at the marginalized, Held and George have made an arresting debut that certainly poises them as ones to watch in the future.

| Original Score: B | Sep 17, 2020

You never are conscious of the technical wizardry involved in Held and Logan George's extraordinary feature debut, but the two create a rousing sensory experience.

| Sep 12, 2020