Que Horas Ela Volta? 2015

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: Case gives one of the warmest, most lovable performances of the year; the film's real climax comes when she simply wades into a nearly empty swimming pool. Read more

Geoff Berkshire, Variety: This is the sort of savvy, socially conscious crowdpleaser that occupies a rare middle ground between genteel and intellectual world cinema. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: A simplistic tale of dawning empowerment, featuring a heroine who's easy to root for, but not complex enough to take seriously. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: We've seen plenty of stories about the arrival of a mysterious stranger upsetting the order of things. But "The Second Mother," Brazilian writer and director Anna Muylaert's outstanding film, is different. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Though hardly revolutionary, "Mother" subverts conventions - both cinematic and social. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: The characters are so accustomed to keeping up appearances that they can't bring themselves to say what's bugging them. Their interactions may be mild, but the claustrophobic imagery creates the sense of being trapped in a powder keg. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Muylaert captures the unspoken class distinctions that would, on the one hand, make Val a trusted honorary member of the family while still relegating her to "the help." Read more

Devan Coggan, Entertainment Weekly: This Brazilian drama offers a nuanced, often funny look at family and social status, and Case's performance is both heartbreaking and hilarious. Read more

Boyd van Hoeij, Hollywood Reporter: [The film] dissects with both chilling precision and humor such matters as class differences, real mothers vs. caretakers and whether privilege and one's own station are things that can be questioned or changed. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "The Second Mother" is a satisfying contradiction. It's a soap opera with a social conscience that casually mixes dramatic elements about serious class issues with a crowd-pleasing audience picture sensibility. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: Muylaert forces us to think big about the clash between idealism and acceptance, a philosophical war that spills beyond the walls of this small story into every corner of our own lives Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: The characters' pigeonholed social roles display Muylaert's intentions from the start and render the drama superfluous. Read more

Ella Taylor, NPR: Muylaert's as alive to the comic possibilities of liberal guilt as she is to the plight of the ill-paid maids who quietly run innumerable households all around the Americas. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times: "The Second Mother" goes soft toward the end, defusing its conflicts too easily and inconsequentially. Read more

Molly Eichel, Philadelphia Inquirer: The Second Mother is an interesting look at generational and class divides in Brazil, without the feel of a lecture or lesson. Read more

Steve Rubenstein, San Francisco Chronicle: It's the funny, edgy, engaging tale of a fingers-to-the-bone maid who must cope with a small-minded employer, a headstrong daughter and a changing social fabric harder to handle than the endless laundry she hangs on the clothesline. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: The Second Mother isn't just a backdrop for Case's bravura acting, nor for the equally well-observed performances of the whole ensemble cast. Muylaert's camera -- the cinematography is by Barbara Alvarez --moves with fluid expressiveness. Read more

Julian Carrington, Globe and Mail: Muylaert's film is an effervescent comic drama that delights in the disruption of traditional upstairs/downstairs dynamics. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Anna Muylaert's observations on family relations and invisible-but-firm class barriers are always acute, even if she ultimately mines them for hope rather than horror. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: It smartly uses its little moments of humiliation to open our eyes to a world of delicate, but deep, injustice. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: All the elements of the story fit impeccably together for a humorous and occasionally wrenching examination of relationships. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Ms. Muylaert's guiding principle seems to have been fearlessness, and her film, which was shot by Barbara Alvarez, is superb on all counts. Read more