Lilya 4-ever(Lilja 4-Ever)

The New Yorker by Anthony Lane

As with "Together," Moodysson has pulled off a staggering dramatic coup, and again we are forced to ask: How does he do it? [21 & 28 April 2003, p.194]

Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt

This grim Danish-Swedish production is socially revealing and artistically creative, both coldly realistic and infused with compassion for its heroine and her youth culture.

Washington Post by Desson Thomson

Lilya's struggle to make a life for herself is both heartbreaking and heart-stirring.

New York Daily News by Jack Mathews

a despairing movie that you can't look away from, though you'll wish you could.

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

Light entertainment, this is not. Unforgettable and challenging cinema, it is.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

The movie, written and directed by Lukas Moodysson, has the directness and clarity of a documentary, but allows itself touches of tenderness and grief.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker

It's almost too devastating for words, yet never less than compelling and heartbreakingly affecting.

The New Republic by Stanley Kauffmann

It is Akinshina's presence and performance that make the pedestrian story heart-wrenching. She is pretty, responsive, reflective. Without the slightest strain, she convinces us of the beauty and pathos and hope within Lilya.

Boston Globe by Ty Burr

Doesn't derive its power from the turning wheels of plot suspense but from the simple act of looking and not blinking.

New York Post by V.A. Musetto

Lilya is portrayed by Oksana Akinshina, who gives a dynamic, heartbreaking performance... She was wonderful in ["Brothers"], but is even more astonishing in Lilya 4-Ever.