85
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The A.V. ClubCarlos AguilarThe A.V. ClubCarlos AguilarSome movies wound us so profoundly that once darkness has consumed their final frame we are incapable of shaking off the heartache. That’s the power of Identifying Features, which is as painfully intimate as it is unsparing in its indictment of a country ravaged by a corrosive, entrenched evil.
- 100Original-CinKim HughesOriginal-CinKim HughesBeautifully shot and terribly sad, with a wildly twitchy score ratcheting up the tension, the Mexican drama Identifying Features is a profound statement about maternal love, brutal inequality, and institutional corruption.
- 88Slant MagazineSteven ScaifeSlant MagazineSteven ScaifeThe film is as much about the act of seeing and observing as it is about not seeing, about struggling to recognize that which might not clarify much at all.
- 88LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenLarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenIt takes a special sort of confidence to make a quiet movie, and that’s exactly what director Fernanda Valadez displays in her debut feature, Identifying Features.
- 80Film ThreatAlex SavelievFilm ThreatAlex SavelievApart from the two leads, there’s little warmth or humanity to be found here, the film purposefully cold and distancing, much easier to admire than to love. That said, there’s plenty to admire in this sad, contemplative journey into the heart of darkness.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterBeandrea JulyThe Hollywood ReporterBeandrea JulyThe film's stylistic approach places an unmistakable and compelling veil of empathy around Magdalena, Miguel and the migrant workers just trying to survive amid violence, economic desperation and political strife.
- 80The New York TimesTeo BugbeeThe New York TimesTeo BugbeeIt’s a confident debut feature, and a sophisticated acknowledgment of the powerlessness that migrants face.
- 75Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreValadez lets her actor’s faces do most of the talking here. It’s a music-free film of long, tense silences and splashes of fraught shakedowns and terror.
- 70VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyA film that straddles the line between artful and arty like this one isn’t designed for a wide public. There are moments that are striking, even if the their impact is muddied by a minimalism that at times feel pretentious. “Features” is ultimately worth the sit, but it needn’t have required quite so much effort.