Makala
Les Films du Losange | Release Date: August 24, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comNick AllenAug 24, 2018
The power in this story from comes from its very distilled manner: it tells a timeless story about hard work by completely immersing us in the steps of process, focusing on an act of incredible physical commitment. Read full review
88
Paste MagazineTim GriersonAug 23, 2018
The documentary’s so simple it feels profound without ever really trying. Read full review
80
VarietyMaggie LeeAug 23, 2018
French helmer-lenser Emmanuel Gras’ camera embraces the subject’s every move with such rapt intimacy and cinematic poetry it’s easy to forget this is not a fictional drama. Read full review
80
CineVueVictoria RussellAug 23, 2018
Makala examines the tribulations of desolation and solitude with such respect that it’s impossible not to feel compassion. Read full review
80
Total FilmTim ColemanAug 23, 2018
Emmanuel Gras’ film may be a doc, but with its luscious compositions and heart-rending score it plays like some post-apocalyptic Malick movie: thick dust storms, whispered prayers and an aching empathy for people scraping a living amid utter deprivation. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineDerek SmithMar 22, 2018
Emmanuel Gras resists pitying or sentimentalizing his main subject, or exalting him merely for his resilience in the face of such a harsh, uncaring reality. Read full review
70
Screen DailySarah WardMay 28, 2017
Makala takes the observational approach to the hardships of Congolese life, charting a tough but insightful journey. Read full review
67
IndieWireMichael NordineMay 27, 2017
There’s a fine line between watching someone toil and feeling as though you’re toiling yourself, of course, and “Makala” doesn’t always land on the right side of it. It can be edifying at times to watch this, as the film is clearly a labor of love — even if the actual work depicted is not. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 23, 2018
It is a sad and lonely world, sympathetically captured, beautifully photographed. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansAug 23, 2018
This immersive, slow-burning documentary about a Congolese charcoal maker finds poetry in the punishing, monotonous graft of one man’s trade. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergAug 23, 2018
To ponder the colonial implications of a French director exoticizing a Congolese man whose family eats rats for meals is to realize that a movie can be heartwarming and heartless at once. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijMay 28, 2017
The film was shot chronologically and this is clear in the increasing fluidity of Gras’ camerawork, which is less and less searching the closer they get to the city. Read full review
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