London River
Cinema Libre Studio | Release Date: December 9, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Time OutDavid FearDec 6, 2011
It's a credit to both the actors and Franco-Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb (Days of Glory) that the film never dives headfirst into mawkishness. Read full review
80
EmpireAnna SmithDec 5, 2011
An insight-filled take on prejudice in post-11/7 London that packs a hefty punch. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinDec 5, 2011
Blethyn brings tremendous empathy to the introspective, determined Elisabeth, while the tall, gaunt and dreadlocked Ousmane fleshes out his less-dimensional role with a haunting sadness that speaks volumes. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertFeb 15, 2012
The film has been criticized by some as too politically correct. Perhaps so. But the characters' reality rises above the film's ideas and makes it human. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerDec 5, 2011
Rachid Bouchareb casts his account of the horrifying aftermath of tragedy on an intimate scale, allowing the halting words and frightened faces of his two leads to tell us as much as we need to know about the uncertainties of those faced with tracking down their lost loved ones. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenDec 5, 2011
Here, in orderly fiction, the reverberations bring about the alignment of cultures, the meeting of minds and the comforting assertion that "our lives aren't that different." Maybe so, and the film deserves full marks for trying, at times movingly, to convince us. In the end, the argument is a little too neat to accept, but far too poignant to ignore. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesFeb 16, 2012
A heart-wrenching performance from Brenda Blethyn sustains this 2009 drama by French writer-director Rachid Bouchareb. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 12, 2012
The performances, by Brenda Blethyn and Sotigui Kouyaté, are outstanding. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichelle OrangeDec 6, 2011
Director Rachid Bouchareb brings a measured hand to this intimate, occasionally overdetermined sketch of the aloneness at the center of our global confluence. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnDec 8, 2011
Can actors save a mediocre movie? In London River, they come close. Blethyn's frantic, sad naivete creates a fascinating contrast to Kouyaté's understated performance. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJan 20, 2012
There isn't a whole lot of nuance in writer-director Rachid Bouchareb's unapologetically political movie. As such, it doesn't take much brainpower for a viewer to stay a step or two ahead of his plot the entire way. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen HoldenDec 8, 2011
Rachid Bouchareb's tidy little two-character film, London River, demonstrates how great acting can infuse a banal, politically correct drama with dollops of emotional truth. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanDec 8, 2011
The script, co-written by Bouchareb, is regrettably simplistic. But Blethyn and Kouyaté inhabit and expand the film's earnestly instructive intentions, leaving us with a deeply-felt experience rather than a naively-sketched lesson. Read full review
50
New York PostV.A. MusettoDec 9, 2011
The contrived script lacks subtlety, rendering most characters as stereotypes. Read full review
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