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Utama

Submissions for Best International Feature (Academy Awards 2023)

Utama

2022

Alejandro Loayza Grisi

Luisa Quispe, José Calcina, Santos Choque

6.8

840

Drama In the Bolivian highlands, an elderly Quechua couple has been living the same daily life for years. During an uncommonly long drought, Virginio and his wife Sisa face a dilemma: resist, or be defeated by the environment and time itself.

	Media	Author	Review
		Jordan Mintzer The Hollywood Reporter	"It resembles a cross between a minimalist Sergio Leone western and a series of photos by Sebastião Salgado (...) It’s a powerful and cautionary tale of survival in a dying world."
		Carlos Aguilar IndieWire	"The film thrives when it combines magical realism with gorgeously precise cinematography (...) The images conjured in 'Utama' momentarily let us into the language of the unknown"
		Todd McCarthy Deadline	"[It] is gorgeously made and brings to life a backwater existence in a distant land with skill and assurance."
		David Katz The Film Stage	"For a film alerting us to action as the Earth’s weather patterns are disrupted by global heating, it should be far scarier."
		Peter Debruge Variety	"Photographer Alejandro Loayza Grisi makes a stunning, if understated transition to cinema"
		Wendy Ide Screendaily	"Through the love story at the heart of this visually arresting feature debut, 'Utama' offers the audience a relatable connection with a way of life which is on the verge of extinction."
		Marya E. Gates rogerebert.com	"In the last few years there have been many films about climate change, but rarely has the crisis been addressed as organically (...) Meditative and deeply romantic"
		David Hughes Time Out	"It’s an astonishingly assured and emotionally engrossing debut (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Gregory Ellwood The Playlist	"'Utama' is a story that packs an emotional punch without endless exposition or symbolism. The world is constantly changing and not everyone is willing to leave their old life behind"
		Nadir Samara Screen Rant	"The simplicity of the production design combined with stunning costumes provides a movie-going experience unlike any other in 2022 (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Katie Walsh The Wrap	"[It] is a stark story, starkly beautiful in its richness of restrained imagery"
		Clayton Dillard Slant	"Loayza Grisi has made less a work of slow cinema, despite its languid pacing, than a series of solemn, striking compositions that occasionally dip into moments of magical realism (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		Cath Clarke The Guardian	"A slow and beautiful-looking drama set high on the Andean plateau (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Fabien Lemercier Cineuropa	"Alejandro Loayza Grisi demonstrates a solid understanding of the expressive power of images (...) His savoir-faire allows him to work with a subtle economy of perceptions"

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