70
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottMr. Carpignano has a shrewd sense not only of the character’s psychology, but also of the audience’s expectations, and our tendency to confuse realism with magical thinking.
- 75The Film StageRory O'ConnorThe Film StageRory O'ConnorOne of the great achievements of A Ciambra is how it maps out the food chain of local authorities (both legal and otherwise).
- 75The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicThe PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicWhile it makes its point half-way into its running time and you start getting the anxious jitters of a film that overstays its welcome, A Ciambra serves the fundamental cinematic purpose of transporting you to another world.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyOverall, Pio's accelerated passage from adolescence to adulthood is depicted with moving honesty and sensitivity.
- 70Screen DailyTim GriersonScreen DailyTim GriersonA Ciambra may be a conventional tale of a young man trying to find himself, but the writer-director’s attention to detail enriches that setup.
- 70Village VoiceAbbey BenderVillage VoiceAbbey BenderA Ciambra is at its best when Carpignano captures the textures of everyday life, suggesting the neorealists with his use of nonprofessional actors and on-location shooting.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaNew York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaThe film treads familiar territory when it’s trying to carve cinema-worthy myth from its semi-fictitious protagonist’s life, but its more impressionistic, painterly moments are what feel truly fresh.
- 67IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichSorely lacking the energy that made “Mediterranea” such a vital shot in the arm, A Ciambra is a half-step backward for Carpignano, whose clear sense of place is too often hampered by shapeless plot.
- 63Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSlant MagazineDiego SemereneFirst the film inhabits the eye of a storm—which is to say, the storm of Italy’s wretched peripheries—before submitting to the more ersatz cinematic will of filling Pio’s life with beginnings, middles, and ends.