London River (2011)

Critic Reviews

• Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

  It would be nice to say that Bouchareb, who also wrote and directed "Days of Glory" and "Outside the Law," succeeds. He does not entirely. But he doesn't fail, either.

• Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

  Blethyn and Kouyaté inhabit and expand the film's earnestly instructive intentions, leaving us with a deeply-felt experience rather than a naively-sketched lesson.

• V.A. Musetto, New York Post

  "London River'' features on-target acting by its two leads, but they receive scant support from the wobbly plot.

• Stephen Holden, New York Times

  Demonstrates how great acting can infuse a banal, politically correct drama with dollops of emotional truth.

• Michelle Orange, Village Voice

  Bouchareb brings a measured hand to this intimate, occasionally overdetermined sketch of the aloneness at the center of our global confluence.

• Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

  The emotion feels credible, the connections seem real and, if only briefly, the title truly earns its metaphor -- the same river does run through us all.

• Mike Scott, Times-Picayune

  There isn't a whole lot of nuance in writer-director Rachid Bouchareb's unapologetically political story. But Blethyn's performance ultimately draws viewers in.

• Fr. Chris Carpenter, Movie Dearest

  Powerful. Director Rachid Bouchareb draws excellent, haunting performances from Blethyn and Kouyate. Ultimately moving and cautionary, "London River" shouldn't be missed.

• Louis Proyect, rec.arts.movies.reviews

  Not surprisingly, the choice of the actress who played lead female character in Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies" betrays an affinity for Leigh in more than just the casting--and there's nothing wrong with that.

• Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com

  [T]wo strangers surprisingly find that horror makes the globalization of terror very personal [with] Blethyn's convincing performance [as] a desperate mother.

• Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

  An engaging morality play about the quest of an English woman and an African Muslim to find their children after the 2005 terrorist attack in London.

• Clay Cane, BET.com

  Bouchareb's greatest accomplishment is successfully tackling class, grief and Islamophobia.

• David Fear, Time Out New York

  There's such a graceful sense of restraint in how this real-life tragedy is treated, one that filters any potential for ripped-from-yesterday's-headlines sensationalism through a respectful requiem of loss and grief.

• Andrew Schenker, Slant Magazine

  Although the film occasionally cuts away to contextualized clips from news reports, it keeps its focus small-scale, filtering the world historical through the intimately personal.

• Liz Braun, Jam! Movies

  The film's message about these worried individuals and the larger family of all humanity is a bit obvious at times, but the performances keep you watching.

• Enrique Buchichio, Uruguay Total

  Un retrato humano, sobrio y sensible, que reflexiona sobre los prejuicios y la tolerancia racial, cultural y religiosa en el contexto de los atentados terroristas de Londres. Estupenda labor de sus dos protagonistas.

• Alistair Harkness, Scotsman

  This gentle melodrama uses the July 2005 terrorist bombings in London as a jumping off point for a tender tale of clashing cultures united in grief.

• Graham Young, Birmingham Post

  A low key drama about parental instincts crossing international/cultural/religious boundaries as well as a haunting reminder about how little we know our children once they've fled the nest, London River feels unexpectedly one-dimensional.

• Tom Seymour, Little White Lies

  This is a noble tribute to a day we all witnessed five years ago, and pray we will never see again.

Read all 19 critic reviews