Incendies 2010

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: Incendies is about as meretriciously overdetermined as art cinema, or any kind of cinema for that matter, gets. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Though "Incendies" provides an unflinching account of brutality, it also suggests that to keep such an account can be a transformative act of kindness. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: A staggering political drama that could put you in mind of the intimate sweep of Bernardo Bertolucci, Incendies feels like a mighty movie in our midst. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The movie doesn't quite jell, but you'll feel its sting for hours. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This is the film that should have won an Oscar in its foreign-language category this year and didn't. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: A deeply resonant literary quality gives what might otherwise seem like a dubious series of coincidences a profound sense of plausibility. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: An agonizingly well-crafted slog through a series of shocking emotional extremes. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Villeneuve's telling of her story - and of her children's - is painful, searing and something close to brilliant. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A mystery, a melodrama, a prison film, and a love story, "Incendies'' is foremost a scream of rage at a society destroyed by religion and by men. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: By the end they've acquired a measure of self-knowledge at a cost dearer than they expected, which reminds us that what we think we know can be just the beginning of an existential journey. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "Incendies" is no mere riff on a Greek mainstay. It is its own entity, delicate and fierce. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Azabal, a Belgian actress, has a feral, mesmerizing power. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Rage has no expiration date in Incendies, director Denis Villeneuve's gripping, era-jumping drama about a family melded to its war-torn past. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It's a powerful, disturbing film. May there be a day when such works seem less relevant. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The movie is a bumpy road of twists that leads to a revelation that has the shock and force of Greek tragedy. Read more

Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter: At every film festival, there's at least one movie that slips in under the radar and ends up taking the crowds by surprise. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: With a quiet restraint and an economy of movement in even the most brutal moments, Azabal makes the sometimes operatic extremes of Nawal's tribulations come to chilling life. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The movie, engrossing as it is intentionally horrifying, is capped by a last-minute revelation that brings the story to a haunting, powerful close. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Villeneuve has a sober eye and a steady hand. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: The storytelling in Incendies strikes me as primal the way Greek tragedy is primal. Shattering. Cathartic. It is a breathtaking film. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Filled with striking images and the ghosts of lives lived in hardship and war, "Incendies" is tough but impactful. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: A kind name for this attitude is false moral equivalence, or perhaps post-imperial cringe. A less kind one is Western self-hatred, or an urgent plea to tolerate the intolerant. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Reverberates with the power and passion of Greek tragedy. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Most people do not choose their religions but have them forced upon themselves by birth, and the lesson of "Incendies" is that an accident of birth is not a reason for hatred. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Incendies is a devastating mystery thriller from Quebec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve that grabs you hard and won't let go. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Overplays its hand, piling tragedy on tragedy until we feel browbeaten with misery. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: If you think of Canadian films as the movie equivalent of cucumber sandwiches and chamomile tea, hold tight. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Villaneuve knows how to stoke a hot debate about the legacy of violence. But in this case, where there's smoke, there's not enough air. Read more

J. Kelly Nestruck, Globe and Mail: A sensible switch from stage to screen, but lovers of the original may be disappointed Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Incendies is a significant international step forward for a filmmaker who has already established himself as one of Quebec's most distinctive cinematic stylists. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: All involved with Incendies are working at the top of their game, but Azabal stands first amongst equals. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: A strong film based on a weak story. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Incendies remains fundamentally didactic, particularly in its stunning final revelations. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: Nawal's travails are more in the vein of a Latin American soap opera than Greek tragedy. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It is no surprise that it was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Read more