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Playground

Submissions for Best International Feature (Academy Awards 2022)

Un monde

2021

Laura Wandel

Maya Vanderbeque, Günter Duret, Karim Leklou, Laura Verlinden ...

7.0

2,661

Drama When Nora witnesses Abel being bullied by other kids, she rushes to protect him. But Abel forces her to remain silent. Caught in a conflict of loyalty, Nora tries to find her place, torn between children's and adult's worlds.

	Author	Review
United Kingdom	Lisa Nesselson Screendaily	"A gut-punch of a film that is not so much a portrait of schoolyard bullying as it is a sensory immersion straight into the heart of children abusing other children physically and emotionally"	POS
United States	Manohla Dargis The New York Times	"This is the first feature from the writer-director Laura Wandel, and it’s a knockout, as flawlessly constructed as it is harrowing."	POS
United States	Jessica Kiang Variety	"Vanderbeque’s performance is transfixing (...) Wandel’s immersive, impressive debut is rigorous in its resolute focus on one little girl fighting a lonely, frightened battle for her future selfhood"	POS
United States	Chloe Walker Paste Magazine	"The film has barely started, and you’re immediately in its grasp (...) Wandel makes a host of great decisions throughout the course of 'Playground'"	POS
United States	Lovia Gyarkye The Hollywood Reporter	"It generously studies its subjects — children, bullying, adults confronting the implications of the latter — and extracts haunting conclusions about the Darwinian nature of ostensibly idyllic settings."	POS
United States	Carlos Aguilar rogerebert.com	"Wandel's observational effort is distinguished by the immediacy of its images, containing performances that are jaw-dropping in their realism (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Diego Semerene Slant	"Playground is practically an exercise in the use of off-camera space, and a masterful and refreshingly consistent one (...) an unvarnished contemplation of the cruelty of children and the negligence of adults (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Ben Croll The Wrap	"The film uses a certain brand of European art-house severity to turn traditional depictions of childhood upside down. And while the film very ably achieves that task, it also makes you awfully glad to leave that world behind."	POS
United States	Susannah Gruder IndieWire	"An arresting, eye-opening look at how violence begins at an early age, and how we can learn to be bystanders, or have the strength to speak out."	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"What an incredible performance from Vanderbeque: an intuition of fear and pain and moral outrage that goes beyond acting (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Justin Chang Los Angeles Times	"A must-see drama (...) No one in this movie has a complete understanding of what's going on, but Wandel proves that a sensitive enough camera can provide a fuller picture than most"	POS
United States	A.A. Dowd AV Club	"'Un monde' doesn't need to belabor the point for us to grasp it: It's a jungle out there, even when you leave the jungle gym behind"	POS
United States	Jared Mobarak The Film Stage	"Both Leklou and Vanderbeque deliver performances well beyond their years (...) With only 70 minutes at its disposal, 'Playground' pushes forward with powerful intent. Not a second can be wasted"	POS
United Kingdom	Alex Godfrey Empire	"[It] will bring out your most primal protective urges (...) An exceptionally taut drama. It's Wandel's debut feature, and it feels like she’s been preparing for it her whole life (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Tara Brady Irish Times	"Powerful depiction of school bullying (...) A sickening sense of dread and pinpoint emotional accuracy. The performances that Wandel coaxes out of her young cast are remarkable (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
	Fabien Lemercier Cineuropa	"A moving, subtle yet incisive tale which impresses for its intense depiction of bullying at school"	POS

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