All That Breathes
Submarine Deluxe | Release Date: October 21, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
87
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleChris VognarFeb 2, 2023
All That Breathes is the kind of immersive documentary experience other filmmakers, and film lovers, would do well to study. It never feels the need to explain what it’s doing. It’s as calm and patient as the Samaritans at its core. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleOct 27, 2022
As deliberate as the image-making often is, it’s always to train us in looking as the brothers do, to consider the breadth of life and interconnectedness in our world: Wherever you are, All That Breathes is asking, can you see what’s there, what needs your attention? Read full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 21, 2022
Neither a nature documentary nor a political lecture, All That Breathes is a subtle, haunting reflection on the meaning of humanity — on the breathtaking kindness and heartbreaking cruelty that define our wounded, intrepid, predatory species. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoOct 21, 2022
All That Breathes blends a verité-style character study with gorgeous nature cinematography while never losing the film’s overall commentary on how man interacts with nature—or merely chooses to destroy it through inaction. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergJan 29, 2022
Portrait of a city? Portrait of a pair of heroic brothers? Portrait of humanity on the brink of COVID? In this tiny marvel of a documentary, it’s a little and a lot all at once. Read full review
95
Film ThreatMichael Talbot-HaynesJan 29, 2022
All That Breathes is a powerful documentary with a message that needs to be felt down deep in the lungs. Read full review
94
Paste MagazineApariti BhandariOct 24, 2022
The documentary uses the brothers and their relationship with the carrion birds as metaphors for the state of the environmental and political climate of India’s capital, forming a subtle subtext to the main account. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMar 29, 2023
All That Breathes instills admiration and wonder while also subtly implicating human beings in a responsibility for the upkeep and furtherance of life. Read full review
83
The Film StageAlistair RyderJan 29, 2022
The twin issues of climate change and Delhi’s ensuing air pollution remain largely unspoken factors in Sen’s film, which in its best moments constructs elaborate tracking shots detailing the full scale of devastation caused by extreme weather conditions. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 29, 2022
All That Breathes is determined to illustrate how two peoples’ failure to listen to each other is no different than one species’ failure to acknowledge the rest of its environment — that each aspect of Delhi is sharing the same broken conversation, whether they recognize that or not. Read full review
80
SlashfilmCaroline CaoFeb 19, 2023
Even if the bird rescuers' efforts are merely a "Band-Aid" against an ever-engulfing miasma, Shaunak Sen provides a worthy arc for the audience to grasp an elegant understanding of the brothers' ecological purpose. Read full review
80
EmpireJohn NugentOct 17, 2022
A thoughtful, meditative thesis on humanity’s relationship with nature, filmed with the kind of cinematographic beauty most fiction filmmakers can only aspire towards. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeOct 17, 2022
Despite the poisons in the air, the brothers continue their work, mending broken creatures, one by one. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 11, 2022
Shaunak Sen’s documentary is a complex, thoughtful, quietly beautiful film about the ecosystem and human community. Read full review
80
Screen DailyAllan HunterJan 29, 2022
Saud, Nadeem and Salik are engaging and inspirational individuals. Shaunak Sen’s film does justice to their efforts but also allows us to see the bigger picture of a highly connected, complex world that humanity shares but seems intent on destroying. Read full review
75
Slant MagazinePat BrownOct 4, 2022
Shaunak Sen’s documentary is both otherworldly and humanizing, as if it were bridging a gap between different forms of existence. Read full review
75
The PlaylistNed BoothJan 29, 2022
If Sen were to better connect Nadeem and Saud’s faith and civic identities with the kites and other animals’ desperate fight for balance in an urbanized nature, All That Breathes would be an excellent documentary. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsOct 31, 2022
All That Breathes favors a poetic, almost dreamy style, filled with the kinds of ugly-beautiful images and thoughtfully dispatched voiceovers that can strip a narrative of outright propulsion in favor of mesmerizing us with ebbing ideas and moments of wonder. It occasionally strains. But the basic conflict at play, between the selflessness of these medics, the growing need for their work, and the utter folly of this mission — it can feel a little like standing in front of a moving train — gives it all an urgent undercurrent. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanNov 14, 2022
The film follows two remarkable men in New Delhi: Mohammad Saud and his older brother Nadeem Shehzad, former bodybuilders who used their scientific curiosity, compassion and knowledge of human musculature to figure out how to care for sick and injured birds. Read full review
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