Popular reviews

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  Review by Robert Daniels ★★★★

  A fascinating blurring of the lines between recreation and creation through miniatures to recall personal and national tragedy.

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  Review by Matt Neglia ★★★½

  THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES is a creatively harrowing & undeniably powerful documentary. Using homemade dolls & miniature models, Asmae El Moudir recalls her family’s traumatic experience through the 1981 Bread Riots. Strikingly conceived where painful lies are unearthed.

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  Review by cinemateq ★★★★

  Wake up babe, new form of documentary just dropped.

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  Review by Rock

  I understand this has a similar conceit as Rithy Panh's The Missing Picture. I have not seen that movie, but I was engaged by the way this one presented its characters with their idiosyncrasies and let them work out their trauma in full view, an experience I'm not sure is possible to present with the same power in another medium. (And the way the dioramas are filmed feels especially cinematic, given the documentary genre.) And maybe I was a little teary eyed by the end. It was a dark theatre, you can't prove anything.

  The director did note during the Q&A that the subjects were initially quite guarded, and only really let their guard down when she told them they…

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  Review by Zinc Hyacinthe ★★★½ 2

  Miniature in films couldn’t get better than this. A very delicate movie full of personal memories, using miniature models to attentively restore the streets of the past, filling a strong sense of nostalgia. The special one.

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  Review by Marya E. Gates ★★★★½

  This film is so moving and personal and creatively inventive. I've never seen a film tackle generational trauma in such a unique way. Offering a safe space for those who have a hard story to share and grace towards those who aren't ready to share. Truly an independent vision for what the power of cinema can be.

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  Review by 𝕜𝕖𝕟ℙ𝕓𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕤 ★★★★½

  9 /10

  This movie was both an intriguing & fascinating watch -
  it’s justifiably being compared to the terrific Cambodian doco, 'The Missing Picture' (2013) , & where it really stands out is the cleverness of its layered creativity.
  Camera sweeps capturing the whole work-room surprisingly give the all important detail, perspective & context..

  That same cleverness allows what would be a difficult & expensive story told in the traditional way, to be able to unfold within those historical boundaries, & most likely be a more economical production.

  Fantastic performances by both the actors & non-actors, with the Fierce Matriarch being a scarily compelling watch.

  And for a movie about memories, history & families, it was eerily extraordinary that as I was preparing to enter another cinema…

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  Review by Luke ★★★★½

  The Grandma-pticon

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  Review by Cosmo’s Moon ★★★★

  Slow at first, but slowly grew into this film, especially after the scene in which that dude uses the models to recreate the massacre a scene made more powerful by the rawness of the photography. Definitely a beautiful film but a bit of a festival casualty for me. 

  Also the Grandmother is a menace haha.

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  Review by messy_tony ★★★★

  What a wonderfully engaging approach to a documentary about memory, trauma, silences and erased histories.

  Loved the idea of the photo in front of a Hawaiian backdrop, and that representing memories. Used again and again - FaceTime of Fatima’s school reports & letters of her death, and so poignant towards the end with grandma asleep under the wall hanging of Hawaii.

  Spot on Sunday morning viewing at MIFF.

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  Review by Pony Chen

  要了解過去最好的方法，就是自我挖掘。

  2024奧斯卡最佳國際影片摩洛哥代表，2023坎城影展金眼睛獎、一種注目最佳導演獎。回望極權專制下籠罩整個家庭的歷史傷痕與被人為抹除記憶的再造與和解。導演從家族照片一張不剩的叩問展開對話，在不同家庭成員和鄰居的對談中，用跟父親一同製作的人偶、場景、物件去重現口述歷史的畫面。雖然是從家庭而起的導演首作，卻沒有一絲過度私人到自溺的感覺，除了都真誠的在直視歷史傷痕，同時在訪談與娃娃屋的正反打真的都拍得蠻好看的（人偶、物件搭配的音效重現也很有趣）

  特別是在一家最不講理、頑固的奶奶身上，從難以溝通到連自己的人偶都硬要批評被醜化，到後面隨時間願意去把事情講出來，不再害怕因隔牆有耳而失去那些身邊最重要的人事物。被抹去的相片、被遺忘的人與同時存在不堪與美好的回憶之地，這些記憶已經不會再被奪走了。最後一句導演自己說我是filmmaker，對比前面奶奶一直質疑她是記者，到最後可以勇敢說出身分的勇氣，也蠻令人動容的。

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  Review by andrew t ★★★ 1

  Documentary exploration of generational trauma via art therapy. There's an excellent performance art scene, which seems more staged than not, but it's very effective.

  Also hi I'm in Cannes for the next three days :)

  Cannes 2023 #1