A Son

The first rate-acting, the very credible environments, and the straightforward, tight-as-a-drum direction make it hum with a directness that few social problem movies can muster.

A tense emotional bloodletting...

Were this Barsaoui's fifth film, it would be an impressive accomplishment. As his first, it's remarkable.

It is an outstanding piece of filmmaking.

Not many debuting directors are able to bring subtlety and depth to a heart-rending subject, which is just one reason why Mehdi M. Barsaoui's superb "A Son" deserves significant attention.

An exciting debut from a new voice in Arab cinema.

If the melodramatic elements sound excessive it's because they are, but, A Son ends up being a watchable film for what it could've been and fortunately, was not.

In the narrative perfection of this tragedy, the filmmaker moves the story forward with the pulse of a suspense film in the face of so many unsaid realities about the subjugation of women. [Full review in Spanish]

Intense close-up on a Tunisian family at intersection of first world tech and capitalism with third world tradition and war in a desert that is frightening and beautiful.

Gripping, provocative and profoundly moving.