Άλι & Άβα

Sam Brazil4.5

How dare, how DARE they make me feel compassion for a landlord.I had a whole review planned but Radio got stuck in my head and I forgot it.

James

great film but completely unbelievable, landlords are not people

Darren Carver-Balsiger4.0

Clio Barnard's Ali & Ava is yet another authentic and moving work of British social realism. She is currently Yorkshire's foremost filmmaker and has built such a great directorial identity within her films. Ali & Ava is her most formally expressionist work since The Arbor, playing with blaring music, intercut montages, and various stylish shots. A lot of my family and friends come from Bradford and even they would admit it's a shithole, but it's a place filled with strong characters, who deserve to have their stories told and not just be treated as the footnotes of British urban deprivation. Ali & Ava is a tribute to the real lives of people in Bradford, and its central romance goes beyond pure miserablism. It is about two lost souls finding comfort, which makes it one of the best kind of movies. It's a film of tough truths, that characters must contend with in very real ways, yet it's also about their chances to escape to a better place, with the love of another. Adeel Akhtar and Claire Rushbrook are astonishing as the titular leads, breathing life into their lonely characters. Ali & Ava is not an innovation within the British cinema scene, but it delivers an old format well and solidifies Barnard as one of the best British directors actually working in Britain.2022 Ranked