The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Aparita Bhandari
A quiet study of its characters, Ali & Ava is a fresh take on otherwise well-worn rom-com narratives.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United Kingdom · 2021
1h 35m
Director Clio Barnard
Starring Adeel Akhtar, Claire Rushbrook, Natalie Gavin, Macy Shackleton
Genre Drama, Romance
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Two lonely people from vastly different backgrounds form an unlikely friendship and even unlikelier romance. Ali and Ava meet when Ali offers Ava a ride home. From there, their kindness and companionship blossoms into love despite the lingering legacy of past relationships and emotional turmoil.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Aparita Bhandari
A quiet study of its characters, Ali & Ava is a fresh take on otherwise well-worn rom-com narratives.
Ali & Ava once again showcases Clio Barnard’s uncanny ability to capture the insoluble complexities of life.
The Film Stage by Jared Mobarak
Despite Ali & Ava proving a heartwarmingly funny and rich love story, its strength truly lies in the characters’ melancholic confrontation with their underlying pain.
Barnard once again proves herself the bard of the British working class. In Ali & Ava, she abandons her occasionally bleak realism for a kind of stubborn hopefulness, letting the delight of unexpected connection break through the storm clouds.
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