70
This fascinating but uneven pic has a conceptual rigor that doesn’t always translate into compelling viewing or even a smooth narrative whole. Nevertheless, it reps a strong debut from tyro helmer-writer Nadav Lapid.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
83
The Playlist by Christopher Bell
Avoiding easy answers and engaging on various levels, Policeman is exactly the kind of film that makes one excited about the art again.
91
While blatantly topical, this is not a political film of the moment, but rather a calculated meditation on self-defined purpose in the midst of societal confusion.
70
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Lapid's filmmaking skill helps keep us involved, as does Policeman's philosophical underpinnings.
100
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
In Policeman, Mr. Lapid, making an electrifying feature directing debut, traces the line between the group and the individual in a story that can be read as a commentary on the world as much as on Israel.
70
Village Voice by Michael Nordine
Lapid is so unconcerned with crafting a conventional crime drama that merely titling his film Policeman reads as a minor subversion, a way of defining the narrative in relation to a genre it hardly fits into.
50
Give the Israeli drama Policeman some credit: It keeps finding new ways to be unsatisfying.
88
Slant Magazine by Nick Schager
Israel's fractured psyche is plumbed via narrative splintering in Policeman, Nadav Lapid's compelling drama about his homeland's burgeoning social unrest.
90
The Hollywood Reporter by Todd McCarthy
The main performances are powerful, the visuals are bold and vivid, the final effect one of the gut having been punched and the mind stirred.