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France, Algeria, Germany · 2017
1h 53m
Director Karim Moussaoui
Starring Mohamed Djouhari, Aure Atika, Hania Amar, Sonia Mekkiou
Genre Drama
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Algeria today. Past and present collide in the lives of a wealthy property developer, a young woman torn between reason and passion, and a neurologist impeded by wartime wrongdoings. The film takes the pulse of modern-day Algiers, a country once riven by colonial occupation yet still abundant in beauty and promise.
The New York Times by Devika Girish
Although each chapter is built around an event — a tryst or a revelation — the film comes to life in quiet, conversational details that capture the textures of people’s lives across different generations and classes.
The Hollywood Reporter by Jordan Mintzer
Moussaoui captures the drama with a simple style that can seem a bit lackluster at times, although he makes good use of the Algerian locations and coaxes compelling performances from his cast. In the end, his narrative's three-pronged structure is perhaps the film's strongest asset.
Moussaoui’s underwhelming use of fractured storytelling technique not only dilutes any organic narrative development, but he completely jeopardizes the impactful nature of the film’s potentially poignant message: how we as humans are in one way or another connected to each other.
There’s an observational authenticity that is refreshing in an audiovisual culture whose attempts at self-analysis are too often skewed by melodrama. It’s also heartening to see such delicate stories of ordinary people come to the fore in a country whose filmmakers faces enormous hurdles; technical, financial and bureaucratic.
Paste Magazine by Oktay Ege Kozak
Over all, the profound performances, the even-lit digital cinematography that gives the film a docudrama feel, and Moussaoi’s impressive voice as a first-time feature helmer turns Until the Birds Return into an engaging work on the universality of human nature.
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