Irish Film Institute -Review Roundup: Tully, Lean on Pete and A Cambodian Spring

Review Roundup: Tully, Lean on Pete and A Cambodian Spring

Three new films arrive this week, including motherhood drama Tully starring Charlize Theron, Andrew Haigh’s follow up to 45 Years, Lean on Pete, and powerful documentary A Cambodian Spring.

Read on for some opinions from critics and why not pop in to make up your own mind!

TULLY
“All the bits fit together. Thank Cody’s consistently witty script. Thank Reitman’s gently propulsive direction”
4/5 – Irish Times

“It’s a masterful performance from Theron – and as memorable as Monster”
4/5 – RTE

“Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody whip up the great existential-crisis Mother’s Day movie. It’s funny, touching and vital”
Rolling Stone

“Tully encapsulates the psychological process of maturity with pithy humor and vertiginous insight”
Village Voice

“[Charlize] Theron and [Mackenzie] Davis are dynamite together, the actresses playing off each other like two sides of the same coin”
IndieWire

LEAN ON PETE
“Director Haigh makes it three emotional knockouts in a row”
4/5 – Irish Times

“A respectful treatment, and a brilliant performance from Charlie Plummer”
4/5 – RTE

“Plummer gives an excellent performance: watchful, sensitive, delicate and yet possessed of a survivor’s impassive quality”
4/5 – Guardian

“It still rings with the small, revelatory details of great drama – those bright, beautifully observed moments of humanity that jump out like glints of glass in the desert”
4/5 – Telegraph

“In the hands of British filmmaker Andrew Haigh, this tale of a troubled teen (an extraordinary Charlie Plummer) bonding with a horse becomes a heartbreaking look at a marginalized America”
Rolling Stone

A CAMBODIAN SPRING
“Weaving together complex material into a coherent narrative, it emerges as a sort of magic trick. A unique story. But also one that is too common and too universal”
4/5 – Irish Times

“[An] illuminating and absorbing documentary”
4/5 – RTE

“This film is a call to wakefulness and action, not only on the part of the desperate, but also from those who pretend to sleep, who have a lot more to give, and perhaps to lose”
Film Ireland

“It’s a story of profound tragedy but also a story of courage and of resilience and one that deserves to be seen”
4/5 – Scannain

“Distressing but wholly compelling, A Cambodian Spring will surprise even the hardened pessimist as to what people are prepared to do for power and money”
5/5 – Entertainment.ie

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