A Borrowed Identity
Strand Releasing | Release Date: June 26, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisJul 23, 2015
Talented director Eran Riklis is interested in the coexistence of cultures, not violence, but that doesn’t mean his ending fails to carry an emotional wallop. It’s a doozy, and shows us that life can be a complex whirl of dueling identities. Read full review
88
Boston GlobePeter KeoughSep 3, 2015
More conventional in approach than Linklater’s 12-year filmmaking odyssey, “Identity” demonstrates its boldness not with stylistic originality but with political acuity. Read full review
83
The PlaylistChris WillmanJun 25, 2015
Films about this particular divide don’t get any kinder or gentler, but there’s a knowing sweetness to Dancing Arabs that doesn’t come off as particularly naïve or divorced from reality, at least taking some of the false hopes of the period into account. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaJul 16, 2015
Director Eran Riklis starts the film off with a playful, whimsical tone that grows increasingly darker as things progress. It reflects the life of the movie's protagonist, which finds him facing challenges that would make most people bitter. Read full review
80
The New York TimesAndy WebsterJun 25, 2015
Impressive acting (especially from Mr. Suliman and Yael Abecassis as Yonatan’s mother) enhances this thoughtful drama, directed with a sure hand by Mr. Riklis, a film veteran. Read full review
75
Washington PostStephanie MerryJul 23, 2015
Under Riklis’s direction, the film’s first act lulls the audience into a sense of familiarity, before plunging into a darker reality. The effect is shattering. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireJun 26, 2015
A Borrowed Identity commendably avoids polemics in order to provide a textured portrait of a young man going through a set of personal transitions against the background of ongoing cultural flux that reflects a larger, collective identity crisis. Its evocation of the historical period feels carefully honed and resonant. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Simon HouptJun 25, 2015
Riklis, working from an adaptation of a popular novel by the Arab-Israeli writer Sayed Kashua, is wryly perceptive of the ways each side exoticizes and demonizes the other. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJul 2, 2015
At its best, A Borrowed Identity concerns itself with the malleability of self, with who we are and how society and culture can force identity choices on us. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMarsha McCreadieJun 30, 2015
Traditional coming-of-age films like A Borrowed Identity don't often come from Israel, which is one of the film's points. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijJun 26, 2015
The film’s ambition and dexterity is somewhat of a mixed blessing, with, for example, character motivations given short shrift in the sprint to the finish line. Read full review
70
The DissolveKeith PhippsJun 25, 2015
The director’s observant approach to the material helps pave over the frustrations. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineClayton DillardJun 20, 2015
It lacks a formal rigor to match its thematic heft, preferring a digestible naturalism that serves its plot points in plain, uncomplicated sight. Read full review
60
VarietyJay WeissbergJun 26, 2015
Riklis’ strongest film in several years, this is another well-intentioned plea for coexistence, though apart from one scene that lays bare, with welcome righteousness, the disturbing orientalism infiltrating even Israeli intellectual circles, the whole thing is rather too scrubbed and clean. Read full review
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