75
Metascore
33 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinA social-realist blockbuster – fired by furious compassion and teeming with sorrow, yet strewn with diamond-shards of beauty, wit and hope.
- 83The PlaylistJordan RuimyThe PlaylistJordan RuimyCapharnaüm is not without its issues. The director over-relies on the courtroom scenes and the movie’s message is heavy-handed at times. Yet, the sheer force of the filmmaking and its artful delivery overpowers sappy overreaching.
- 80VarietyJay WeissbergVarietyJay WeissbergWhile this is unquestionably an issue film, it tackles its subject with intelligence and heart.
- 80CineVueMartyn ConterioCineVueMartyn ConterioMakes for a generally powerful statement on human misery and grotesque inequality, though some third act creative decisions and maneuvers cause a wobble or two.
- 80Time OutAnna SmithTime OutAnna SmithIt’s quietly absorbing and fitfully shocking as we experience the sights, sounds and smells of the streets where a one-year-old child can wander around alone without anyone stopping to wonder why.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinThe Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinAlthough the narrative is structured through a highly unbelievable instigating conceit — Zain is trying to sue his own parents in court for giving him life in the first place — Labaki lures such outstanding performances out of the almost entirely non-professional cast and sketches such a credible view of this wretchedly poor milieu that the flaws are mostly forgivable.
- 70Screen DailyLee MarshallScreen DailyLee MarshallIf it doesn’t tie many (or any) of these thematic strands with a neat bow, that’s in the nature of a film that chooses raw dramatic power over narrative finesse.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawIt’s a simplistic film in some ways, with a naive ending – but there is energy and vigour, too.
- 58The A.V. ClubA.A. DowdThe A.V. ClubA.A. DowdCapernaum’s neorealist spirit is smothered by its sentimentality and endless string of indignities; it’s as if the film is operating as Zain’s trial defense, every moment making his case that it probably would have been better if he’d never been born.
- 50IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichCapernaum is a movie that wants its audience to empathize with its protagonist so intensely that you agree he should never have been born. It’s a fascinating (if obviously counterintuitive) approach, but one that’s frustrated by the literalness with which Labaki unpacks it.