70
Somehow it works — probably because The Platform commits to its conceptual framework so thoroughly, and with such precision, that it coaxes the audience to do the same. Its vivid images are designed to imprint on your brain.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Barry Hertz
Extraordinarily gross, metaphorically blunt, but also perversely and wildly entertaining, the new Spanish splatter satire The Platform is the perfect movie to watch while the world seemingly teeters on the edge of existence.
80
There’s a brutal efficiency to the storytelling, swiftly, heartlessly propelling us up and down the building, forcing us to bear witness to a great many horrors.
75
RogerEbert.com by Brian Tallerico
As we see how society functions (or fails to do so) in the face of one of history’s most devastating crises, take some time out and watch The Platform, a funhouse mirror reflection of our world.
90
Los Angeles Times by Carlos Aguilar
Formidable from a technical standpoint, The Platform thrives on effectively grotesque production design and ghastly special effects that shock and disgust with purpose.
67
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s The Platform is not a subtle film. But these are unsubtle times, with unsubtle problems, and the most alarming thing about this grimly affecting Spanish allegory — which literalizes capitalism’s dehumanizing verticality with twice the gross-out terror of “Parasite,” and almost half of that masterpiece’s furious grace — is that it sometimes doesn’t seem like an allegory at all.
80
Gaztelu-Urrutia’s camerawork is inventive enough – his pacing tidy enough, his tone clever enough, his performances engaging enough – that we never get tired of seeing the same four walls and few faces throughout The Platform’s running time. For being so deeply dark, the film is surprisingly funny and thoughtful, and it’s got a wonderful, sly energy to it.
60
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
If you want to watch an elaborate metaphor being wrung out like a bathing suit for an hour and a half, The Platform might be the film for you.
60
Screen Daily by Stephen Whitty
Although the story’s point is clear, the plotting is thin, and it can be easy at times for viewers to feel as confined as the prisoners. But the production design – all grey cement walls, with that platform cutting through the center of the screen like an infernal dumbwaiter – is superb.
90
It’s a movie designed for people who like their future-fiction thoughtful and relevant, and for people who enjoy the runaway-train feeling of having no idea where a given story could possibly go next.
This dark film works as a powerful metaphor for the way capitalism dehumanizes people to the point where they see others not as human, but in terms of what they have and what they don't. It is not subtle, but it accomplishes all the goals it sets out to accomplish.