Ajami
Kino International | Release Date: February 3, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Emotionally mesmerizing. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianGrant Butler
The film is all the more remarkable because its actors are untrained and their lines are improvised. Clearly, they've lived this. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
One of the pleasures of Ajami, a tough and in many ways unsparing movie, is its deep immersion in the beats and melodies of everyday life in Jaffa and beyond. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
A remarkable accomplishment, a swirling, choral sea of humanity that forces us to confront that a man who does terrible things can also be a loving father who gives his infant daughter a bath. Read full review
90
Boxoffice MagazineWade Major
A timely and timeless look at the intersecting lives, fortunes and fates of Jews, Christians and Muslims in the fragile Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, Israel. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Electrifying and decidedly downbeat slice of life and death in Ajami. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
It’s much too easy to call Ajami an Arab-Israeli “Crash,’’ but it’s a pretty good place to start. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Ajami is neither a puzzle nor a polemic. It's an admirably even-handed portrait of life in an occupied ghetto that is bounded by checkpoints. Everyone we meet is a more or less honorably motivated victim of circumstance. That the circumstances were inscribed centuries ago makes Ajami a tragedy of biblical proportions. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Copti and Shani show characters of different backgrounds interacting peacefully as individuals, then show how those characters subtly change when their affiliation with a group becomes an issue. And always the threat of violence looms. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The last thing you see in Ajami should be the first thing on your mind about this compelling new film from Israel. That would be the closing credits, written in both Hebrew and Arabic, separate but equal, side by side, mirroring the creative process behind this potent work and the story it has to tell. Read full review
80
VarietyJay Weissberg
Time shifts may overcomplicate the narrative for some, but the pay-off packs a major punch. Read full review
80
Village VoiceElla Taylor
To the extent that its sympathies lie with the occupied and with those who must do the work of enforcing occupation, Ajami brings a warmly generous spirit to its subjects, almost all of whom become gangsters by default. No one is demonized or sanctified. The movie's sensibilities are humanistic. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
Ajami is Israel’s submission to the Oscars, and like the gritty "City of God" before it, it takes harrowing, tricky circumstances and illuminates them with Scorsesian snap. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterEric Monder
The main drawback to this noble effort, just nominated for the foreign-language Oscar, is that the two-hour film is unrelievedly grim and tense. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
But don't worry if you miss some details; this is the kind of movie that rewards a second viewing. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The latest and one of the most harrowing films set along the religious divides in Israel. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
While its themes of revenge, mutual resentment and grim fatalism offer little hope for a ready solutions, the movie itself testifies to the power of creative collaboration in finding common ground. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Ajami brings its audience into a world where the cultural conflict is fierce, emotions run high, yet the hopeful vision of peaceful coexistence shines through the cracks. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
At its best, Ajami shows you things you never would have considered or imagined. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The stylings of Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino come to the Mideast, but more credibly grounded in a complex setting fraught with raw contemporary politics and ancient class tensions. It makes for a compelling movie but hardly a pretty picture. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
The complexity might require a second viewing, but there is compensation in the realistic acting by a cast of non-pros and the eye-grabbing, hand-held lensing by Boaz Yehonatan Yacov. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Shani and Copti (who costars as a hipster druggie) elicit moving performances from their nonprofessional actors, who ground the somewhat breathless action in a streetwise realism. Read full review
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