Critic Reviews

• Jean Oppenheimer, Village Voice

  The music, rhythms, and vibrant colors of the city are beautifully woven into cinematographer Jacob Sarmento Solitrenick's unobtrusive handheld camera work.

• Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

  Antonia explores cultural and sexual oppression with sensitivity and verve. The story may lack complexity, but it is loaded with irrepressible energy and a deep appreciation of female friendship. And that's always something to sing about.

• V.A. Musetto, New York Post

  ...a raw reality underscored by believable performances by nonprofessional actors.

• Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

  ...the unpolished actors and raw São Paolo setting offer an unusually authentic feel.

• , Los Angeles Times

  An absorbing, often moving musical-drama from Brazil.

• Robert Koehler, Variety

  Pic's depiction of rising above is less a candy-coated inspirational pill and more a piece of solid dramatic fiction.

• MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher

  [T]riumphs over other similar movies with its dedication to authenticity and its refusal to accede to sentimentality...

• Kam Williams, Mount Desert Islander

  Curiously, the lead actresses are actual aspiring hip-hop artists who perform their own tunes. While their rendition of Killing Me Softly won't make you forget either Roberta Flack or Lauryn Hill, they're at least able to hold their own.

• Frank Lovece, Film Journal International

  Each of the stars and most of the supporting players are real-life rappers/singers and not professional actors, adding to the improvisational-seeming naturalism that gives the movie an exotic insider feel.

• Tim Cogshell, Boxoffice Magazine

  It's amazing what a limited runtime can do to focus a storyline.

• Jean Oppenheimer, L.A. Weekly

  The music, rhythms and vibrant colors of the city are beautifully woven into cinematographer Jacob Sarmento Solitrenick's unobtrusive hand-held camerawork, while director/co-writer Tata Amaral reveals a deft hand with actors.

• Donald J. Levit, ReelTalk Movie Reviews

  With a charming quality, 'Antonia' avoids the triteness of many music films that touch on triumph, heartbreak, decline, and then a new, determined start.

• Prairie Miller, Long Island Press

  Bold and brave soulful female free styling hip hop subversive invasion of jealously guarded machista musical turf, that does battle with feisty attitude and stubborn blossoming feminist pride. And the music isn't half bad either.

• Prairie Miller, WBAI Web Radio

  A euphoric celebration of the rough road to womanhood and at the same time a biting critique of machista culture, Antonia is a brave, inspired antidote to current misogynistic Brazilian film fare.

• Kam Williams, Sly Fox

  Rather weird for an overcoming-the-odds flick in that the newcomers cast in the starring roles are obviously attempting to achieve in real-life what the characters they're portraying are trying to do in the saga on screen.

• Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

  The style of Antonia, like the melodramas that simmer at its center, is neither smutty nor glorifying, sensitively keyed to the struggles of its working-class characters.

• Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

  Um grupo musical formado por jovens mulheres negras de origem humilde que precisam lutar contra vários preconceitos em sua trajetória profissional: Dreamgirls? Não, muito melhor: Antônia, que deixa o filme de Bill Condon no chinelo.

• Jon Popick, Planet Sick-Boy

  File this one under: Middling.

Read all 18 critic reviews