Something in the Air
IFC Films | Release Date: May 3, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekApr 30, 2013
In Something in the Air, that past—a version of Assayas's own—is rendered in visuals so specific and evocative, it's perpetually alive. Read full review
100
VarietyJustin ChangMar 14, 2013
Decidedly not revolutionary cinema, Something in the Air instead quietly demystifies its subject. The tone of the piece is wryly affectionate but never indulgent; the experiences depicted feel emotionally true and lived-in without ever catching the viewer up in a rush of intoxication or excitement. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMar 14, 2013
This is a beautifully crafted work and an acute evocation of its period both in look and attitude, and it’s no less deeply absorbing for being somewhat muted in tone. Read full review
91
Film.comDavid EhrlichApr 29, 2013
It proves that the screen is the place where a memory can be reborn. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMay 2, 2013
Assayas has such a steady hand as a director, he knows precisely how to let all of Gilles' inner angst play out. His nostalgia for those past days can be felt in the affection and forgiving way the indiscretions of youth are portrayed. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 2, 2013
Mr. Assayas’s method is observant and immersive. His camera moves among young bodies like an invisible friend, and his somewhat messy narrative is propelled by fidelity to feeling rather than by the machinery of plot. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 9, 2013
With a minimum of melodrama and a fluid camera style that weaves restlessly in and out of the throng, Something in the Air is attentive to the users and the used in this generation of supposed equals. There’s no anger to the film, though, and what sometimes feels like passivity is really just the fond, unromantic gaze of an artist carefully considering his younger self. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd May 1, 2013
Because of its autobiographical slant, Something In The Air has been compared to Assayas’ 1994 breakthrough, "Cold Water," which gazed upon roughly the same period of the director’s life. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 16, 2013
Where Assayas’ film really shines is in capturing that feeling, when adolescence is stumbling awkwardly toward adulthood, that the most important thing in the history of the world is the thing that is occupying your thoughts and emotions at this particular moment. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMay 2, 2013
Assayas may have been inspired by biographical memories, but “Air” is so sensitively observed that it simultaneously evokes a universal, and eternal, state of adolescence as well. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfApr 30, 2013
Assayas evokes the atmosphere so vividly, you begin to breathe in his tale, rather than watch it. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 9, 2013
Something in the Air, is the latest screen portrait of an artist as a young man. It's a good one too, rich and assured, even if writer-director Olivier Assayas is more successful at creating atmosphere than at making his romanticized younger self a three-dimensional being. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesJim EmersonMay 9, 2013
Assayas looks back on the values and priorities of the time with a vision that’s both wry and tender. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 3, 2013
Assayas doesn’t bring out the fiery best in this material, but he’s smart enough to know that revolutionaries like their comforts as much as the ruling class does. Read full review
75
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonMar 14, 2013
There’s so much to like about the film, and it’s a mark of Assayas’ skill that it's a hugely engaging watch despite the blankness of the characters. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMay 9, 2013
Too bad it isn't more engaging — and dramatic — than it is, but this new film, in French with English subtitles, is still worth seeing for what it says of the turbulent state of France in the early 1970s, when Mr. Assayas was a high-school student in Paris, and of the zigzag pursuit—of painting, beautiful girls and independence from a demanding father—that finally culminated in his becoming the filmmaker he was meant to be. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenMay 23, 2013
An overdose of sympathy makes for a wispy picture, likeable certainly but lacking in crispness and clarity. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineMar 14, 2013
Despite a fixation on fire as a cleansing agent (explosions, burning paintings, or a blazing house), the film, enveloping as it is, proves woefully short on burning dramatic or thematic intensity. Read full review
60
The TelegraphJenny McCartneyMay 27, 2013
It is beautifully shot, too: even the writing on the posters and graffiti observes the style of classical French écriture. Given enough time, maybe one could even grow nostalgic for the pomposity. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianGrant ButlerMar 14, 2013
The opening sequences of this film from director Olivier Assayas are gripping, as students flee baton-wielding police, then embark on a late-night vandalism spree at a school. But the drama becomes mired with too many characters, too many shots of pretty Italian scenery and an unfocused story. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 27, 2013
This is a great-looking movie with a sure sense of time and place; it is obviously a personal, and in fact, autobiographical work about Assayas's own youth. But for all its flair, I came away dissatisfied at its colossal self-indulgence and creamy complacency, and the way historical perspective and meaning are permitted to dissolve in its sunlit nostalgia. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithMay 2, 2013
Has the aroma of an autobiographical confession by someone for whom life hasn’t been overly difficult. Read full review
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