82
Metascore
22 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEmotionally mesmerizing.
- 90The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottOne of the pleasures of Ajami, a tough and in many ways unsparing movie, is its deep immersion in the beats and melodies of everyday life in Jaffa and beyond.
- 90SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirA remarkable accomplishment, a swirling, choral sea of humanity that forces us to confront that a man who does terrible things can also be a loving father who gives his infant daughter a bath.
- 90Boxoffice MagazineWade MajorBoxoffice MagazineWade MajorA timely and timeless look at the intersecting lives, fortunes and fates of Jews, Christians and Muslims in the fragile Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, Israel.
- 80VarietyVarietyTime shifts may overcomplicate the narrative for some, but the pay-off packs a major punch.
- 80Village VoiceVillage VoiceTo the extent that its sympathies lie with the occupied and with those who must do the work of enforcing occupation, Ajami brings a warmly generous spirit to its subjects, almost all of whom become gangsters by default. No one is demonized or sanctified. The movie's sensibilities are humanistic.
- 80Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfAjami is Israel’s submission to the Oscars, and like the gritty "City of God" before it, it takes harrowing, tricky circumstances and illuminates them with Scorsesian snap.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterThe main drawback to this noble effort, just nominated for the foreign-language Oscar, is that the two-hour film is unrelievedly grim and tense.
- 80New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanBut don't worry if you miss some details; this is the kind of movie that rewards a second viewing.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoThe complexity might require a second viewing, but there is compensation in the realistic acting by a cast of non-pros and the eye-grabbing, hand-held lensing by Boaz Yehonatan Yacov.