The Seventh Fire
Film Movement | Release Date: July 22, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonJul 21, 2016
An empathetic, often heartbreaking piece of work, at times tough to watch – one party scene is particularly grim and confrontational – at others calm and contemplative. Read full review
80
The New York TimesGlenn KennyJul 21, 2016
The betrayal of Native Americans by larger forces looms over this powerful movie without ever being explicitly discussed. Read full review
80
CineVueMatthew AndersonJul 13, 2016
Riccobono neither condemns nor sympathises, maintaining a commendable neutrality, as his subjects frank testimony paves the way to jail cells. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireJul 22, 2016
Whatever other filmmakers may have had an impact on Riccobono, the film’s indelible depiction of current Native life is an achievement that belongs to him alone. Read full review
75
The Film StageDan MeccaJul 13, 2016
This is spare-but-effective filmmaking. Read full review
70
Village VoiceBilge EbiriJul 21, 2016
The movie is less about making a grand social statement and more about conveying the ground-level desolation of this world. Riccobono films it all with intelligence, sensitivity, and a feel for offhand poetry; his camera captures moments of intimacy and tension without ever quite intruding. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijJul 13, 2016
The first couple of reels are very loosely structured, with no one identified onscreen, which gives the film a verite edge but which also means that it takes a good while for the material to find its footing and make it clear what and, more importantly, who, the film is exactly about. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJul 25, 2016
The Seventh Fire is stirring for how it chips away at the relationship between hopelessness and helplessness. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid ParkinsonJul 21, 2016
A gruelling watch and a searing indictment of America's disregard for its indigenous peoples. Read full review
60
The GuardianLeslie FelperinJul 21, 2016
This documentary, by the first-time director Jack Pettibone Riccobono, is a deep drink of bleak. But there are incidental moments of beauty or startling surreality to marvel at. Read full review
60
Total FilmJames MottramJul 13, 2016
Uplifting it isn’t, but there’s poetry to be found in these desperate lives, and Riccobono never judges or sensationalises his subjects. Sensitive, if slightly unfocused. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineClayton DillardJul 17, 2016
The documentary renders poverty a mysterious entity instead of a curable malady of systemic exclusion. Read full review
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