Human Flow
Mars Distribution | Release Date: October 13, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmOct 13, 2017
Though Donald Trump is never mentioned by name in all 140 minutes of Ai Weiwei’s new documentary, Human Flow, the picture is, quite simply, the most monumental cinematic middle finger aimed at his scandal-laden administration to date. Read full review
100
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlOct 12, 2017
You’re right not to trust a film critic who calls a movie “stunning.” But let me say this about Human Flow, the epic new documentary surveying the scope of the global refugee crisis, from Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei: It stunned me, in the truest sense of the word. Read full review
91
IndieWireDavid EhrlichAug 31, 2017
Human Flow is an epic portrait of mass migration that understands how a lack of empathy often stems from a failure of imagination. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleOct 19, 2017
The overall effect is of something too large to fully comprehend, yet also too intimately sad to ignore, the kind of dilemma that Ai believes speaks directly to who we are as human beings — that ingrained desire to better ourselves, the right to migrate toward safety and prosperity, and the belief we’ll find solidarity in that quest. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramDec 11, 2017
The cumulative effect is overwhelming. Poetically shot by a dozen DoPs, including Christopher Doyle, a powerful portrait of horror, hope and humanity emerges. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 12, 2017
What Mr. Ai seeks is to go far beyond the nightly news; he wants to give you a sense of the scale of the crisis, its terrifying, world-swallowing immensity. And so he jumps from one heartbreak to the next. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 9, 2017
Human Flow makes a virtue of its vastness, creating an epic tapestry of souls that stretch from as far away as Syria, Kenya and Burma to the Calais ‘Jungle’ encampment on Britain’s doorstep. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungSep 9, 2017
Shot in 23 countries, the film has an amazing breadth and a relentless moral drive that will make it a reference point for this subject, whatever the audience response may be. Read full review
80
CineVueJohn BleasdaleSep 9, 2017
With its epic scale and global reach, Human Flow is a powerful testament to a shameful crime against humanity. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanSep 9, 2017
This is an urgent, deep soak in the current refugee crisis. Read full review
80
Time OutDave CalhounSep 2, 2017
Human Flow is rooted in specific current national and political situations, yet it offers a portrait of forced human movement and suffering that feels almost timeless. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyOct 25, 2017
Beautifully shot and deeply dispiriting, the documentary examines the global refugee crisis. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisOct 18, 2017
Human Flow is often like seeing a travelogue of the world, juxtaposed with a desperate sea of humanity in search of a better — and safer — life. Read full review
75
TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanOct 13, 2017
The beauty of Ai’s epic imagery feels like a perpetual challenge: Are you looking? Are you listening? Are you responding? Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 12, 2017
Human Flow asks us, implicitly, why we seem to care so much about certain living creatures and not others. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayOct 11, 2017
Ai’s approach occasionally tips too far toward aestheticizing a dire situation. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorOct 5, 2017
Human Flow ventures further into pure documentary than Ai's previous work in that field but it's still an art film, with a circular rhythm to its scenes, lingering imagery and a prolonged running time of 140 minutes. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaOct 14, 2017
Ai clearly wants to take a macro view of an impossible problem, to find some clarity in abstraction. But whenever he just talks to the refugees face to face, we learn more than any drone shot could tell us. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 12, 2017
If Human Flow has a chance of breaking through the noise and clutter of the media surround, it’s not because the demands Mr. Ai’s documentary makes on our attention are modest; just the opposite. This movie, a testament to the power of seeing, provides a long and uncommonly vivid look at a human crisis that’s changing the face of our planet. Read full review
70
Screen DailyLee MarshallSep 9, 2017
This sprawling, meandering compendium of dispossessed people in transit is a profoundly human film, a heartfelt call to empathy, but also something of a politicised nature documentary. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenOct 18, 2017
A great piece of advocacy: an elegant movie about one of the world’s most urgent problems, made by an esteemed social critic and cultural figure. Yet, Ai’s film, despite its staggering numbers, seems short on insight and personal consequence. Read full review
60
VarietyJay WeissbergSep 9, 2017
Lost among the bulletins and traveling shots is any sense of the individuals whose distinctiveness is eliminated under the crushing word “refugee.” Read full review
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