Aviva
Outsider Pictures | Release Date (Streaming): June 12, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJun 25, 2020
Honestly, it's refreshing to have a movie built around dance and dancers that emphasizes both art and character, especially after the tedious schlock of Gaspar Noé's severely anticlimactic "Climax." Read full review
80
Film ThreatAlex SavelievJun 11, 2020
Aviva is a palindrome, reflecting the film’s ouroboros-like narrative. It’s also a Hebrew name, which translates as “spring-like” or “fresh”–both adjectives applicable to the sensual and passionate Aviva. Love it or hate it, it’s… well, it’s art. I loved it, warts and all. Perhaps Yakin has finally discovered his style. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyJun 12, 2020
With a cast made up of dancers entirely, the resulting work feels like a bold, deeply personal, and psychological ode to the numerous facades of romantic relationships, both uplifting and gloomy. Read full review
75
The Film StageJohn FinkJun 12, 2020
Explicit and spontaneous, Aviva is a film with several brilliant moments that sometimes loses its way in overly indulgent sequences and set pieces as it dares to chronicle nearly every intimate encounter its characters and many of their friends have over the course of about 40 years. While overly ambitious, Yakin imagines the private life your lover had before you with a sociological lens. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenMay 25, 2020
Yakin and his terpsichorean cast take exhilarating chances of the sort all too seldom seen on screens these days. Read full review
60
The GuardianCath ClarkeApr 28, 2021
The film’s big experiment feels only semi-interesting. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearJun 12, 2020
There is a sense of healing — emotional, personal, psychic, definitely and defiantly sexual — that this filmmaker seems to be chasing. The ultimate goal, however, is really just casting away creative shackles and just letting it all hang out without professional worry. Yakin has assuredly done that. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBrian SeibertJun 11, 2020
Pride in frank eccentricity pushes at times into the unintentionally absurd. Still, it’s exciting how these dance sequences are treated like any other scene, and disappointing when the compulsion to justify them takes hold. Read full review
58
IndieWireJude DryJun 14, 2020
It’s an ambitious piece, but in the dance between experimental ideas and grounded storytelling, Aviva should have listened to her body. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdoñaJun 11, 2020
The film fails to coalesce largely because viewers are left to wonder what joins the couple in the first place. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 10, 2020
It’s on-screen onanism, and rarely more than that. Read full review
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