The Worst Ones

“The Worst Ones” stays true to itself.

Offers a provocative critique of filmmaking practices. It also presents a subtle defense of the onscreen miracles revealed by the young and the raw.

Part of what makes The Worst Ones tick with a pace close to that of a thriller is its self-reflexive relationship to genre and knack for referentiality.

“The Worst Ones,” with dark humor and occasionally confrontational candor... gives us room to query the industry conventions in which it is complicit.

Directed by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, it sees a film crew hit a working class French town, with thought-provoking and sometimes darkly funny results.

The film’s main victories come from its magnificent ability to move the focus from children to children captured in their own environment, and its unwillingness to fall back on convenient labels and the usual soap operatics.

Self-reflexivity has scarcely come in a subtler form. An intelligent, mildly provocative piece of neo-realist critique, calibrated with expert diligence toward the details that matter most.


A knotty meta-narrative about the ethics of filmmaking.

[T]he film overlooks or bypasses certain things, but the struggles and challenges these kids face definitely aren't among them.

“The Worst Ones” brings up a fascinating look at industry practices, but it doesn’t go all in or offer any solutions.