Bikur Ha-Tizmoret 2007

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The Band's Visit, the first feature by the Israeli writer and director Eran Kolirin, flirts recklessly with obviousness, cuteness too. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The Band's Visit resounds with tenderness and melancholy. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Kolirin has a fine sense of where to place the camera and when to cut between shots for maximum comic effect. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This modest little fable from Israel, in English, Hebrew and Arabic, has spellbinding resonances, yet never breaks the spell by blowing its own horn. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: [Director] Kolirin wonderfully maintains an atmosphere of both humor and melancholy. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Tonally, The Band's Visit steps gingerly on the line between 'sweetly humane' and 'cloyingly quirky,' but [director] Kolirin pulls back the reins just enough, maintaining control by expressing as much with his framing as with his script. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It's a small, profoundly satisfying movie that keeps echoing long after it's over. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: The Israeli film that's become celebrated for what it lacks -- enough Hebrew to contend for the best foreign language Oscar -- can now be seen and appreciated for what it has in abundance: visual wit, verbal charm and a completely droll sense of humor. Read more

Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune: You can watch The Band's Visit for its political idealism, or you can watch it for entertainment value alone. In either case, it doesn't disappoint. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Writer-director Eran Kolirin has a gentle touch, although the film is too self-consciously sentimental. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: You expect The Band's Visit to be a sweet little snapshot, a delightful and endearing culture-clash movie -- funny and poignant and human. And it is all those things. What's surprising is how it manages to be just a bit more. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Something marvelous happens as the filmmaker, in his first feature, expertly metes out small scenes of communication between people taught, for generations, to be wary of one another: This Band swings with the rhythms of hope. Read more

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: The Band's Visit has pathos, but it is also very funny. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: It has an elating lightness that belies its heavy subject -- peace, or at least conversation, in the Middle East -- and it leaves you filled with a sense of possibility. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Israeli filmmaker Eran Kolirin has made a sly and bewitching chamber comedy that underscores the decency of its characters while sidestepping the gooey, let's-join-hands imperative of its premise. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: When in doubt, strike up the band. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: With its attention to detail and careful, naturalistic performances, it's a small slice of life. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Kolirin doesn't go for belly laughs. He prefers subtle, wry humor, much in the fashion of Finland's Aki Kaurismaki. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The Band's Visit is a lovely first film from young Israeli director Eran Kolirin that offers a Middle Eastern inflection on the bittersweet stylings of Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismaki. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Like no fish-out-of-water film in recent memory, it leaves you with the hope that these fish will find their way back to water, and maybe learn to share that puddle before the desert dries it up entirely. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A drama about isolation and communication, The Band's Visit is characterized both by strongly delineated characters and low-key comedy. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A quiet, sympathetic film about the loneliness that surrounds us. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: If you stick with it, the story of the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra's visit to the dusty nowheresville of Beit Hatikva (when they're actually looking for Petah Tikva) has an irresistible tragic and romantic undertow. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: At moments, the movie is almost sentimental, but the performances save it every time. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Sharply observed and agreeably acted, The Band's Visit doesn't soar to giddy heights, but it moves along and holds one's attention. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: What a lovely first feature this is from Israeli director Eran Kolirin, brief at a mere 80-plus minutes but never in a rush, never loud, always willing to wait for the emotion to bubble up quietly from the situation. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: There's just one thing wrong with The Band's Visit: it's fiction, not a documentary. You want a story as warm as this to be real, because good news is scarce from the Middle East. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: With its themes of social displacement subtly and skilfully enmeshed within a pleasingly straightforward shaggy-dog narrative, this is one of those films that runs at you with open arms, and you'll find it very difficult not to succumb. Read more

Jay Weissberg, Variety: A warm and delightful take on cross-cultural relations that proves that sometimes a light touch is just what's needed to address serious topics. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: With luck, filmgoers who discover this gem about an Egyptian police band stranded in a small Israeli town will make it the must-see movie of the season. Read more