New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein
The movie doesn't quite jell, but you'll feel its sting for hours.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Canada (Quebec), France · 2010
Rated R · 2h 10m
Director Denis Villeneuve
Starring Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Rémy Girard
Genre Drama, Mystery, War
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Twins Jeanne and Simon, complying with the requests made in their mother's will, embark on an emotional and painful odyssey through memory, war, and loss, in search of a brother they never knew they had, and their father, presumed dead. As they reconnect with their Middle Eastern roots, they begin to discover long buried secrets of their family history.
New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein
The movie doesn't quite jell, but you'll feel its sting for hours.
Boxoffice Magazine by Ed Schied
Azabal is superb, conveying Nawal's fiery presence, determination and mounting bitterness. The impressive cast includes non-professionals from Jordan, where Incendies was filmed.
The climax is a little too clever and far-fetched-an unnecessarily neat finale for a movie that works fine when dealing in broad strokes, some of which are nothing short of masterful.
A staggering political drama that could put you in mind of the intimate sweep of Bernardo Bertolucci, Incendies feels like a mighty movie in our midst.
Nawal's travails are more in the vein of a Latin American soap opera than Greek tragedy, and Jeanne and Simon's climactic, genuinely god-awful discovery plays like artistic sleight-of-hand rather than the profoundly tautological revelation it aspires to be.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
The movie is a bumpy road of twists that leads to a revelation that has the shock and force of Greek tragedy.
Incendies vaults Denis Villeneuve to the status of serious director.
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
A devastating mystery thriller from Quebec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve that grabs you hard and won't let go.
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Farber
Although the film runs more than two hours, the story is so compelling and the production so beautifully controlled that we are gripped by the characters' quest right up to the shocking end of the story.
The A.V. Club by Tasha Robinson
While the film will likely stick with viewers, it's ultimately a tossup what they'll remember most: the stunning buildup, or the massive letdown.
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Please login to add films to your watchlist.
The true story of World War II's forgotten heroes.
When a young soldier has trouble accessing memories of a massacre, conversations with others help piece his memories together.
A day in the life of a bitter middle-aged teacher consumed by his frustration with the world around him.
A dramatized retelling of the Montreal Massacre.
A woman falls in love with the son of a man she killed in a hit-and-run.
Emma, an unfulfilled mother of three adult children, finds her senses rekindled by her son's friend.
Simin wants to leave Iran to give her daughter, Termeh, a different kind of life outside the country. But Nader, Termeh’s father, refuses to leave his ailing father behind.
As Arletty suddenly becomes seriously ill, Marcel's path crosses with an underage illegal immigrant from Africa, who needs Marcel's help to hide from the police.
In the rural area around the Anatolian town of Keskin, officials lead a search for a murder victim.
An aimless college dropout struggles to engage with life — though life doesn’t seem to be evading him.
How far would you go for your child?
The enemy of my enemy is myself.
A middle-aged businessman gets more than he bargained for when he picks up a young Ukrainian hustler.