68
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxThe film's opening dedication to Pasolini acknowledges Arslan's debt to Neorealism, but the gritty, documentary style is offset by a charming bit of chalkboard animation that helps lighten the mood considerably.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterRay BennettThe Hollywood ReporterRay BennettFierce and tragic tale of lost hope.
- 80SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirFratricide marks Arslan as one of Europe's hottest young talents, drawing simultaneously on the film traditions of America, Western Europe and the Middle East.
- 75The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasShot with such grit that the lenses seem coated with grease, Fratricide offers a myopic impression of an unnamed German city, and that's probably the point, since so much of its territory and opportunities are sealed off from these immigrant characters.
- 75New York PostNew York PostNonprofessional actors and convincingly dingy details give Fratricide a harsh documentary quality, and its "Midnight Cowboy"-style ending is bitterly powerful. Devotees of seamy '70s cinema should give this little film a look.
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceA well-wrought, beautifully lensed but ultimately hopeless tale, Fratricide provides a less than optimistic allegory for the intractability of human conflicts: Even far away and decades later, old wars bring fresh miseries.
- 63New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanWhile the boys' fates do seem a little too predestined, that may well be Arslan's intention. When you're idling in no man's land, it's all too easy to get uprooted.
- 40The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisEvery so often, Mr. Arslan cuts to Kurdistan, where a group of women wander the barren landscape, a Greek chorus gone astray in a film gone amiss.