Angels Are Made of Light
Grasshopper Film | Release Date: July 24, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAug 8, 2019
What is life like on the ground for ordinary people in another culture, another world? That’s been the bread and butter of observational documentaries for forever, but almost never is it done with the kind of beauty and grace filmmaker James Longley brings to his Afghanistan-set Angels Are Made of Light. Read full review
90
VarietyNick SchagerJul 23, 2019
Angels Are Made of Light serves as a lament for a prosperous past that can’t be reclaimed, a volatile present that affords few prospects for joy or success, and a future that’s terrifyingly uncertain. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 7, 2019
Not everything here is perfect; the musical score, by Norwegian composer John Erik Kaada, favors ambient sonic wanderings that smooth over the conflicts on screen. But by the end, you feel as though you’ve truly gotten to know a full range of Kabul residents through their daily routines, joys, recreational diversions (kite-flying, slingshots, the international language of soccer) and bone-deep skepticism about the future. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJul 23, 2019
Longley’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “Iraq in Fragments” finds a way to negotiate between empathy and condescension. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBilge EbiriJul 24, 2019
The director finds beauty everywhere — in a cloud of dust, a traffic jam, the raucous din of children at play. And wherever such beauty exists, we imagine, hope can never be entirely absent. Read full review
80
Screen DailyDavid D'ArcyJul 23, 2019
For viewers who adjust to its deliberately slow rhythms, the reward is a vivid portrait of daily life in Kabul and a rich look into childhood from the perspective of children who have every reason to expect the worst. Read full review
67
The Film StageDaniel SchindelJul 23, 2019
The sections about the school are good enough on their own that trying to fold them into a larger statement on Afghanistan as it is now dilutes the potency of those smaller stories. Still, as a fresh view of life in a country Americans may too easily dismiss as a hopeless hellhole, it’s a welcome piece of work. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayJul 23, 2019
The film is an intimate portrait of a nation terminally anxious about who will see fit to rule it next. Read full review
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