Cinema Releases - When I Saw You

Week Commencing 8.8.2014

"warm, supple and heartfelt"

"When I Saw You, like the remarkable work of its lead actors, is a little gem"

Tom Birchenough, The Artsdesk

★★★★

"When I Saw You is Jacir's second feature. Like 2008's Salt of this Sea – the first feature directed by a Palestinian woman – it was her country's official entry at the Oscars. She's in the pioneering habit: at 29 she became the first Arab to have a short at Cannes. Her work bears comparison to that of her contemporaries in Iran – deceptively casual, studied cinematography, realistic performances and an eagerness to push the dramatic envelope."

Nicholas Blincoe, The Guardian

★★★★

"In keeping with many recent Arabic films – think Saudi Arabia’s Wadjada and Iran’sOffside – writer-director Annemarie Jacir cunningly buries political critique in a warm-hearted, all-ages period piece. The performances are excellent, particularly from Blal and young Asfa, who’s cheeky, open-mouthed curiosity allows us to love Tarek, even on his very worst behaviour."

Tara Brady, The Irish Times

★★★★

"Annemarie Jacir's simple, laid-back and often very charming film thankfully goes easy on the saccharine, instead opting for a spare, observational mode that regularly results in dry comedy and natural, rural poetics."

David Jenkins, Little White Lies

"When I Saw You is cinematic poetry, the perfect blend of stunning cinematography, humanly portrayed characters and a story that hits you with an immediate gut reaction, yet colors your dreams and inhabits your thoughts for days to come. Beautiful, groundbreaking and deeply, deeply moving."

“A touching, beautiful masterpiece of a film, an ode to the displaced the world over and to any of us who have ever lived somewhere other than our own birth country, yearning for home."

HUFFINGTON POST
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"Blal plays the mother as a hardy, stricken woman whose stores of love finally outweigh her willingness to fight; the performance, like Jacir's direction, is matter-of-fact yet superbly detailed, each action suggestive of a wealth of swallowed-back feeling. As Tarek, Asfa is also extraordinary, albeit in a much rawer way, as if everything has been scraped from the kid but want...another first-rate film from a Middle East rich with them."

Alan Scherstuhl, The Village Voice

"With precious little politics and the Israelis as invisible as Tarek’s homeland, “When I Saw You” is a soft-centered child’s-eye view of alienation, toughened by fine acting (Saleh Bakri shines as a fighter drawn to Ghaydaa) and Hélène Louvart’s full-bodied photography."

Jeanette Catsoulisjan, The New York Times

"One of the best works to come out of the current explosion in filmmaking in the Middle East."

"Reminiscent of Steven Soderbergh's 'Che', and a defiant message about the refusal to give up hope of a return home."

INDIEWIRE

"If pressed to describe the film in one word, that word would be 'hopeful.'"

Zsarlene B. Chua, Business World

"A poetic tour de force!"

TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

"One of the most distinctive films from the Arab world in recent years."

THE TORONTO STAR

FILM STAGE REVIEW

“The film is riddled with humour, which lightens an incredibly dire situation – in a film that emanates hope, not victimhood.”

Amelia Smith, MIDDLE EAST MONITOR