Black Mother
Grasshopper Film | Release Date: March 8, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
95
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpMar 12, 2019
The combined effect of Black Mother’s technique—Allah shot on both 16mm and HD—is dizzying to the point of overwhelming, but the discipline required to engage with it is rewarded by a singular moviegoing experience. As the mother births her baby, so does Allah birth new cinematic grammar. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnApr 4, 2018
Allah has loaded Black Mother with so many remarkable faces and observations that viewers can hover in its details with ghostly ubiquity, and he only breaks the spell with the recurring image of a nude woman holding a coconut to ground us in some kind of structural trajectory. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesCarlos AguilarMay 10, 2019
An eternal nurturer, the black mother whom Allah dissects and praises in this transfixing hymn of a movie about the place where the woman that gave him life was born is far more than just a homeland but a direct link to the answers about existence. Read full review
90
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMar 6, 2019
In its poetic, elliptical, concise way, this film makes a grand statement: The black mother is the mother of life itself. And the gaze directed at the black faces and bodies in “Black Mother” is not a male gaze, or a documentarian’s gaze. It is a gaze of love. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovApr 10, 2019
Like the culturally complex and often overwhelming island nation itself, Black Mother is a haunting and singular experience unlike any other. Read full review
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenDec 3, 2019
During much of Black Mother, the top of the next frame can be seen peeking from the bottom of the current one. The effect is a certain cinema verite bleariness, but also the suggestion that the person upon whom the camera is focused has a story that not only matters in this moment, but will go on. Read full review
80
VarietyJessica KiangMay 21, 2019
A beguilingly immersive, multifaceted, vividly sensorial portrait of his mother’s homeland, Jamaica. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 6, 2019
Whatever its impetus, the film is a warm bath of sensations that suffers little for any thematic haziness. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyMar 8, 2019
In part shocking and gentle while trekking between chaotic and serene extremes, Black Mother is a fresh piece of work in both how it progresses and how it's assembled like a scrapbook of remembrances. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubLawrence GarciaMar 6, 2019
What distinguishes the film is Allah’s superb eye and talent for portraiture. Read full review
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