Tótem
Sideshow | Release Date: January 26, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
91
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussFeb 16, 2024
Grievous, loving, organic and mysterious. What a celebration. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalZachary BarnesFeb 1, 2024
Tótem is neither tragedy nor tearjerker, exactly, though tears will probably be shed. It is an expression of life, deepened by death and rendered with an unusual and unerring sensitivity. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangFeb 1, 2024
It takes a confident storyteller to avoid the trap of overexplanation, to give us only a partial glimpse of her characters’ lives, and these narrative elisions have the effect of deepening rather than undercutting the story’s realism. Read full review
100
Rolling StoneDavid FearJan 29, 2024
Tótem is one of those films about death that overflows with life, and it’s a testament to filmmaker Lila Avilés that this gentle drama never collapses under its own weight or lets sorrow fully take the wheel. Read full review
100
IndieWireDavid OpieJan 29, 2024
To love in the moment holds far more power than wishing for something you can never have, yet when it comes to Avilés’ work, we can’t help but do both, simultaneously adoring Tótem while eagerly looking ahead to what’s coming next. Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreJan 26, 2024
The marvel of Tótem is that it feels so organic though it’s clearly the result of an enormous amount of preparation and precision, the camera winding its way through crowded spaces to catch the most delicate of interactions. It overflows with love and pain, sometimes both intertwined, and it’s openhearted about death existing alongside life in a way that feels rewardingly mature, even if its protagonist is a child. Read full review
100
The Associated PressJake CoyleJan 26, 2024
For a film about death, Lila Avilés’ “Tótem” is extraordinarily lived in. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comPeyton RobinsonJan 26, 2024
Tōtem is an all-encompassing tale of anticipatory grief. It’s a gentle caress of a film, the type that touches you with pitiful care, leaving you with a consequence of comfort and sadness, but also the knowledge of being seen. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla DargisJan 25, 2024
Totem is a coming into consciousness story about a child navigating realms — human and animal, spiritual and material — that exist around her like overlapping concentric circles. Yet even as the story’s focus sharpens, what matters here are the characters: their emotions and worried words, how they hold it together and fall apart, their individual habits and shared habitat. Read full review
100
The PlaylistCarlos AguilarFeb 25, 2023
A luminous and soul-nourishing microcosm built on profound love in the face of impending grief, the film reveals itself in the charged interactions between its multiple characters. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinFeb 25, 2023
Noisy, joyous and as exhausting as the multi-generational bash at the heart of its story, Totem packs a hefty wallop for a film that’s only 95 minutes, and should further solidify Aviles’ reputation as an auteur with a unique vision and remarkable skills with actors, especially non-professionals. Read full review
90
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyFeb 25, 2023
Tótem embraces chaos and bustle in an ensemble drama of a family living through crisis. This thematically rich piece offers a set of vivid character studies, while musing on life, death and time – largely from a child’s perspective. Read full review
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 25, 2023
Rich with detail while also being intensely specific to the large middle-class family it observes, Avilés’ lifelike and lived-in second feature alternates among roughly half a dozen characters, inviting audiences to pick their own points of identification in the ensemble. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineGregory NussenMar 23, 2023
Tótem is a film of unexpected beauty, using its main character as a conduit for exploring the quandaries of a family navigating matters of love, heartbreak, class, innocence, and, perhaps most prominently, mortality. Read full review
83
The Film StageRory O'ConnorFeb 25, 2023
It’s a wonderfully busy piece of work, fraught with messy emotions but in too much of a rush for overt sentimentality; though it does allow for one or two softer moments. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekJan 29, 2024
Tótem offers a promise of light beyond the sorrow, a concept that’s hard for children to comprehend. But then, adults need to be reminded of it too. Read full review
80
Screen RantAlex HarrisonJan 25, 2024
Tótem's camera is always studying the actors, exploratory and intrusive in the manner of a child's perceptive gaze. Read full review
80
The Film VerdictLucy VirgenJul 10, 2023
Expectations were rewarded with an intimate film and impeccable direction. Read full review
79
Paste MagazineAnna McKibbinJan 25, 2024
Avilés is more concerned with the shape and sound of childhood, and across the 95 minutes (which covers one evening in the lives of this disjointed cast), she offers a nuanced take on the disparity and complication of being young in a world built to amplify grown-up problems. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJan 19, 2024
The surprising thing about this film, given its potential for devastation, is how funny it can be. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 25, 2023
This is clearly a very personal project for Avilés, and the heartbreak feels very real. Read full review
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