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Fingernails

Fingernails

2023

Christos Nikou

Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White, Luke Wilson ...

5.7

1,061

Romance. Sci-Fi Anna increasingly suspects that her relationship with her longtime partner Ryan may not actually be the real thing. In an attempt to improve things, she secretly embarks on a new assignment working at a mysterious institute designed to incite and test the presence of romantic love in increasingly desperate couples.

	Author	Review
United States	Sheri Linden The Hollywood Reporter	"A well-written and beautifully performed investigation of yearning and the mysterious realm that apps and algorithms can only profess to quantify."	POS
United States	David Ehrlich IndieWire	"Buckley, White, and Ahmed are as strong as they could possibly be in a film that strands them in a sterile comic wasteland somewhere between Sirkian melodrama and Lanthimos-like monotone."	NEU
United Kingdom	Charles Bramesco The Guardian	"[It] aims to be a sadistically comical treatment of relationship insecurity, but ends up saying little (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Breezy but thoughtful, the film satirises society's myths about soulmates"	POS
United States	Maureen Lee Lenker Entertainment Weekly	"There are interesting concepts at play in the ways [it] explores loneliness and desire (...) Christos Nikou seems to want to say that no one knows anything about love, actually. While that may be true, it's hardly compelling"	NEU
United States	Kyle Smith The Wall Street Journal	"The plot's direction becomes evident early on, but it isn't especially convincing and it proceeds there as though stuck in holiday traffic"	NEG
United States	Guy Lodge Variety	"[A] calmly controlled, beautifully played second feature (...) 'Fingernails' [has] a sly wit that doesn't preclude its honest emotional intelligence"	POS
United States	Gregory Ellwood The Playlist	"As a big fan of [Christos]'s exquisite 2020 debut, 'Apples,' we were crossing our fingers that he’d avoid the dreaded sophomore slump. We’re sad to report that’s not the case."	NEU
United States	C.J. Prince The Film Stage	"It's impressive to see a film about love only able to generate disdain"	NEG
United States	Rafa Sales Ross IGN	"A sleek sci-fi film about a near-future where couples can scientifically test their love by removing one of the titular body parts"	POS
United States	Amanda Guarragi Ready Steady Cut	"A unique, original sci-fi romance (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Todd McCarthy Deadline	"Yes, the director has obvious gifts that we’ve seen before and which surface momentarily even in this miscalculation"	NEU
United States	Thelma Adams The Wrap	"Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed fail to elevate dusty 'Twilight Zone' premise"	NEG
United States	Robert Daniels rogerebert.com	"The quiet soulfulness of Buckley, Ahmed, and White makes for a banquet of slow cinema, one that haunts more than shocks in its parsing of love, lust, and longing (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
Canada	Kurt Halfyard Screen Anarchy	"The cardinal sin of 'Fingernails', perhaps, is wasting a pair of chemistry-rich performances from two thoroughbred actors... Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed"	NEU
United States	Alison Willmore Vulture	"It may be a story about the unknowability of love, but its pulse never races —it doesn't pick up at all"	NEG
United States	Carlos Aguilar Los Angeles Times	"There's an endearing bizarreness to 'Fingernails' that allows him [Nikou] to grasp at some of the intricacies of the human condition, steeped in silences as much as heartfelt analysis"	POS
United Kingdom	Ella Kemp Empire	"Moving and convincing (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Alex Harrison Screen Rant	"A gentle, well-acted film that should’ve been more interesting (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Ross Bonaime Collider	"A promising film from Christos Nikou that never delves as deep into its concepts as it should"	NEU
United Kingdom	Wendy Ide The Guardian	"It never surmounts its outlandish premise (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Michael O'Sullivan The Washington Post	"A silly, sci-fi story of a love triangle (...) Rating: ★½ (out of 4)"	NEG
United States	Mark Asch The Daily Beast	"[An] overly sentimental ripoff of 'The Lobster'"	NEG
United Kingdom	James Mottram Radio Times	"Love becomes a game of percentages in this intriguing alt-world sci-fi drama (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Alex Maidy JoBlo	"I wanted a little bit more out of this film, but 'Fingernails' is still worth a watch"	NEU
United States	Belen Edwards Mashable	"'Fingernails' finds itself on an all-too predictable route, albeit one that's enjoyable enough thanks to three strong lead performances and some charming retro-futuristic sci-fi flair"	NEU

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