Kicks
Focus World | Release Date: September 9, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 10, 2016
Tipping’s bold and meditative drama with its reflective moods and streetwise grime has delivered one of the best feature-length debuts of 2016 and one of the best films of the year, period. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleySep 9, 2016
Kicks is knowing and innocent, profound and goofy. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen HoldenSep 8, 2016
The characters have enough dimension to avoid appearing to be symbols of a social tragedy, and the movie’s relative gentleness makes the harsher realities of Brandon’s world all the more distressing. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiSep 14, 2016
Brandon’s odyssey, filtered through Tipping’s lens, is at times funny, harrowing, and well, somewhat annoying (way too much slow-mo), but the talent here is clear. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzSep 22, 2016
As the young hero at the centre of the tale, Guillory displays astonishing depth and heart. To summarize: Run, don’t walk. Read full review
75
The Film StageMichael SnydelSep 14, 2016
Tipping is a fresh voice who has already established a great sense of atmosphere, and more importantly, he’s shown that he can tell stories about a more stereotypically black experience with nuance. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnJun 10, 2016
Guillory’s ability to embody the intensity of his obsession, despite its simplicity, speaks the commanding screen presence he’s immediately able to establish. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 10, 2016
First-time director Justin Tipping's finesse with dialogue and story is less developed than his visual sense. But if the movie is over-reliant on slo-mo, voiceover and almost wall-to-wall music to drive scenes, its silky blend of lyricism with urban grit marks it as a promising debu Read full review
70
VarietyAndrew BarkerJun 10, 2016
An arresting visual experience, Kicks has style to spare, and in fact it probably should have spared a little, as this first-time director sometimes crowds his film with more auteurial flourishes than his rather simple story can support. Nonetheless, this is a debut of undeniable promise, both for its director and its largely unknown cast. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleSep 8, 2016
Perhaps the best thing you can say about Kicks is that its strengths and weaknesses make for intriguing bedfellows, like a cautionary fable that’s as much about the hazards of forging an artistic authenticity as it is the pitfalls of a corrosive approach to manhood. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerSep 7, 2016
Here is a film that manages to be observant without being especially insightful—without deepening thematically beyond the observation that inner city life can still be really, really lousy for everyone involved. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoSep 8, 2016
It doesn’t really add up, either as a psychological portrait or moral commentary. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChristopher GraySep 3, 2016
It's less notable for its originality than for how dynamically it blends a few styles that ultimately prove incompatible. Read full review
37
Washington PostAlan ZilbermanSep 15, 2016
Kicks is gritty to the core, and its commitment to verisimilitude is its undoing. All of the characters are selfish, and their sense of loyalty is purely circumstantial. Read full review
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