There's swagger and bluster. There are echoes of Athina Rachel Tsangari's Chevalier, and at least one purposeful reference to Claire Denis's Beau Travail.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 23, 2018

Like its title, "Western" is both startlingly direct and full of resonance and ambiguity.

| Apr 19, 2018

A meandering but quietly absorbing tale of comradeship amid social tensions.

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

Like the Hollywood westerns it references, it's a story of economic imperialism as an assertion of male dominance, the political implications of colonisation hanging in the air like stale sweat.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 15, 2018

Meinhard becomes increasingly enigmatic - was he a soldier? Is he a liar? What does he really want? - and [Valeska] Grisebach, sometimes infuriatingly, offers us tantalising hints of a drama that never quite fully unfolds.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 13, 2018

Western is allied to Claire Denis's Beau Travail and Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy, which observe the intimacy of all-male spaces. Grisebach too explores the ways men labour, act and interact, their unspoken and brittle bonds.

| Apr 13, 2018

The point of the title is to invoke a parallel, conjure a certain tradition. But it's the aggression and naked tensions of the genre that Grisebach has her eye on.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 12, 2018

One of the films of the year has arrived - maybe the best of the year - a work of unmatched subtlety, complexity and artistry.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 12, 2018

While the film hums with potential conflict, Grisebach is too singular simply to dress an old genre in new clothes. Instead, she coolly holds back her camera and paces out the escalation of hostilities under a humid Balkan sun.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 11, 2018

Packed with moments of beauty worthy of classic westerns, and makes you want to be more attentive towards others.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 11, 2018

[Meinhard Neumann's] languid but confident gait is pure Randolph Scott, while his face, usually unemotive, breaks out in deep creases on the rare occasions he smiles: it's a John Ford landscape in itself.

| Feb 21, 2018

Writer-director Valeska Grisebach is terrific with cultural details, especially since the characters can't really communicate.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 20, 2018

A culture clash defined by an incredibly strong first-time performance, it's continually more emotionally surprising than its dry packaging lets on.

| Feb 20, 2018

A slow burn of a drama with a restrained tone that may put off some viewers, but which will captivate those who responded to its low-key wavelength.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 16, 2018

"Western" is as precise as a dropped pin on a GPS map, which makes its sense of mystery all the more powerful.

| Feb 15, 2018

The absence of anything traditionally "painterly" reflects an ambivalent attitude toward the kind of capitalistic pro-growth machinations on display in the film.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 19, 2017

Free of affectation and distinguished by a generosity and sincerity exceedingly rare in cinema, Western's poignant celebration of human resilience is nothing short of spectacular.

| May 24, 2017

There are no stagecoaches or six-shooters in this sharp, simmering drama of German-Bulgarian discord, but the spirit of John Ford graces it.

| May 19, 2017

A naturalistic, almost documentary-like feature that slowly builds.

| May 18, 2017

The film's visual execution and spare narrative style give it a timeless dimension that will lend some modestly exportable clout to an approachable and appealingly laconic drama.

| May 18, 2017