83
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90VarietyScott FoundasVarietyScott FoundasWhat emerges, finally, is a film that gives an urgent, original voice to a people too frequently marginalized in both movies and society at large.
- 90Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlEven as it verges on melodrama, Ixcanul remains fascinated by its people's practical thinking, by how their contemporary circumstances — and occasionally premodern beliefs — lead to actions both relatable and achingly, disastrously not.
- 83The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicThe PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicSteeped in a culture rarely observed on screen, Bustamante's film has the airs of a documentary. Its ensemble cast of local actors have zero trace of affectation in their performances.
- 83The Film StageEd FranklThe Film StageEd FranklGuatemala’s first-ever entry for the foreign language Oscar is an absorbing, beautifully-shot drama of cultural ritual and the drive of one young woman to escape a rudimentary social system.
- 80The GuardianJordan HoffmanThe GuardianJordan HoffmanWhat’s most striking about Ixcanul is the elegant way in which it is shot. Scenes are given space, and the audience is allowed ample time to soak up the atmosphere.
- 80Screen DailyLee MarshallScreen DailyLee MarshallMuch credit too must go the actors, all non-professionals who were discovered by the director via community meetings and theatre workshops. There’s no Brechtian alienation here: these are committed yet unmannered performances that help to flesh out what might otherwise be a thin story.
- 75Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSlant MagazineDiego SemereneThe film's structure, however stifling, is filled with gorgeous imagery and nuanced symbolism.
- 75The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThis is a decidedly small-scale tragedy, but it still packs a cumulative wallop.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungThe Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungA solid example of low-key, well-observed, humanistically sympathetic ethnography.
- 60CineVuePatrick GambleCineVuePatrick GambleIxcanul may struggle to tackle the larger issue it posits but well represents the lives and rituals of the marginalised community it seeks to give a voice.