83
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
It's a fascinating story, fascinatingly told.
Family Portrait in Black and White
Critic Rating
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This documentary profiles Olga Nenya, a Ukrainian woman living in a small rural town who has adopted and raised 16 black orphans, where she must protect them from the racist realities of rural Ukrainian society. A complex portrait of a non-traditional family.
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What are critics saying?
80
The New York Times by Neil Genzlinger
Leaves a lot of questions unanswered, which is frustrating, but it gets high marks for honesty.
80
Village Voice by Ernest Hardy
The film's emotional and psychological textures suffer for those losses, but Family is still riveting viewing.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Stephen Cole
Though only 85 minutes, the film captures an entire, bewilderingly extended family and way of life inside a sturdy frame.
75
Slant Magazine by Chuck Bowen
Julia Ivanova, a Canadian filmmaker, doesn't judge Olga; she refuses to see her through the eyes of a presumably better-off first-world citizen.
58
The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias
There's no organizing principle in Ivanova's documentary, which unfolds in a ragged, seat-of-the-pants style that mirrors its subject's day-to-day life all too closely. Nenya's flock proves too big for the film to wrangle.
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