Foxtrot
Filmcoopi Zürich | Release Date: December 8, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
88
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 14, 2018
Graced by superb performances, especially from Ashkenazi and Adler, this gentle but devastating portrait bursts with integrity and tough honesty, even in its most lighthearted moments. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorMar 14, 2018
Foxtrot is an admirably precise yet dreamlike film, probing the trap in which contemporary Israel finds itself. It is deliberately designed, superbly filmed and affectingly acted by Lior Ashkenazi and Sarah Adler as the stricken Feldmanns. Read full review
100
The Associated PressLindsey BahrMar 1, 2018
There is a precise sensation of out-of-body powerlessness and comic absurdity throughout that can only be described as dream-like. And the overall experience is a meditative and powerful one. Read full review
100
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMar 1, 2018
Maoz is as good at youthful languor as he is at the process of grief. This middle section of the film abounds with insights and moments of surprising desert beauty. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 7, 2017
An intricate, dazzling cinematic dance, Foxtrot goes both deeper in and further out than standard-issue cinema. It's profound and moving and wild and crazy at the same time, simultaneously telling a specific story and offering an emotional snapshot of a country whose very soul seems to be at risk. Read full review
100
IndieWireEric Kohn
Maoz maintains such a riveting formalism that everything seems to fit together. Read full review
100
VarietyJay Weissberg
Brilliantly constructed with a visual audacity that serves the subject rather than the other way around, this is award-winning filmmaking on a fearless level. Read full review
100
The PlaylistOliver Lyttelton
It’s a film that can swing between absurdist humor and brutal gut-punch sadness in a way that’s rare and, at times, truly profound. Read full review
91
The Film StageZhuo-Ning Su
The genius and creative dexterity of Maoz are on full display here. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMar 1, 2018
Foxtrot feels unusually full for a film that seems to move in slow motion, in which the characters’ brains grind emptiness. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisDec 7, 2017
The writer and director Samuel Maoz (“Lebanon”) has an exacting eye. The framing is meticulous; soon it’s also very purposefully working your nerves. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah Young
Maoz doesn't seem to worry about losing some puzzled viewers along the way with comprehension issues. For those who reach the end, the story makes perfect sense. Read full review
90
Screen DailyDan Fainaru
Though it is all about mourning and loss, Maoz’ script reaches way beyond, unveiling in each one of his leading characters deep layers of past guilt that might have never been revealed in normal circumstances. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiApr 4, 2018
With caustic wit and fantastic performances for all involved, the film is destined to be an anti-war classic. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonMar 29, 2018
Particularly impressive is Ashkenazi (“7 Days in Entebbe”), who brings to Michael a soulful but volatile insecurity. It’s a hauntingly realized performance. This is a different kind of war film — and a brilliant one. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 28, 2018
Writer-director Maoz is best known for his 2009 film “Lebanon,” based partly on his own experiences as a tank gunner during the 1982 Lebanon War. Like that film, Foxtrot brings a coolly critical, occasionally surrealist eye on the assumption that Israel’s military efforts have made for a better, wiser people. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 22, 2018
This is the second feature from Maoz; his first, the superb “Lebanon” (2009), is one of the essential war pictures of the young century. Foxtrot qualifies as a war film as well, and as in all such pictures made by, and for, grown-ups, the psychic battles are no less intense than the literal carnage. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 1, 2018
Foxtrot makes demands on audiences and then richly rewards them. It's a riveting, deeply resonant achievement. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoDec 8, 2017
It is a formally gorgeous piece of work, the kind of film that exudes confidence in structure and tone, and it contains some of the most striking, memorable imagery of the year. Don’t miss this one. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger Moore
It’s a somber film with flashes of wit, with funereal pacing and long, poignant close-ups that let the players — especially Ashkenazi and Adler — let us see there’s more than what we see on the surface, just with a look. Read full review
85
The AtlanticDavid SimsFeb 27, 2018
In depicting the out-of-sight, out-of-mind bubble mentality of Israel’s civilian citizens (and how easily that bubble can burst), Foxtrot is a uniquely powerful work. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Dec 9, 2017
Heavy with horror though it may be, Foxtrot turns out to be too conceptually and stylistically audacious to be called a slog; it keeps throwing curveballs, some crueler than others. Read full review
80
CineVueLucy PopescuMar 1, 2019
Foxtrot is a cinematic delight with a profound message at its heart and many striking shots that resonate long after the final credits roll. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Apr 11, 2018
With its unflinching and painstaking execution of such grim subject matter, Foxtrot is certainly not an easy watch, but an ultimately rewarding one. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMar 5, 2018
Foxtrot leads us a sorry dance, with irreproachable skill, but sometimes you long for it to break step, to quicken, and to breathe. Read full review
80
CineVueJohn Bleasdale
Foxtrot is a bold and imaginative portrait of the confines of family. Read full review
80
The GuardianXan Brooks
A nightmarish triptych of loss, waste and grief that is nonetheless arranged with such visionary boldness that it dares us to look away. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonMar 22, 2018
The movie has metaphors to burn, and those looking for provocative commentary will surely find it. Foxtrot, though, is a slippery thing that resists easy categorization, and will reward viewers who wait until all of its secrets have been revealed. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla MeyerMar 14, 2018
Foxtrot troubles and fascinates as it shifts from a portrait of grief to one of pathology, and captivates after it shifts again, into a visually driven, borderline absurd look at military life. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonFeb 25, 2018
Icy absurdism and sorrowful ironies abound throughout Samuel Maoz's Foxtrot, whose laughs stick in your throat like the silent screams of its Job-like protagonist. Read full review
75
TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanDec 7, 2017
Samuel Maoz’s Israeli drama Foxtrot is willfully confusing, emotionally chaotic, and occasionally anarchic. It makes complete sense from one angle, but no sense at all from another. In other words, it reflects its subject perfectly. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghApr 5, 2018
Foxtrot is far too interior to be called flashy, but there’s something striking in director Samuel Maoz’s visual confidence, the way he translates his characters’ states of mind into images. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinFeb 28, 2019
Maoz’s control of tone is meticulous and his technique swaggeringly assured, making Foxtrot a film that works best in the spine-prickling moment. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 27, 2019
Foxtrot is a movie from Israeli writer-director Samuel Maoz that is structurally fascinating yet also structurally flawed: its accumulations of ambiguity and mystery are jettisoned by a whimsical final reveal. Read full review
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