64
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurraySayar and Schnendar are likeable performers, and if Bilu and Hager had pushed the "private school for girls" side of Close To Home a little harder, they could have had a sharp satire on their hands. Instead, it's all played straight and close to the surface.
- 75TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxIt presents an image of today's Israeli army, composed of teenagers who are by now several generations removed from the founders' original vision and have begun to question whether tactics designed to keep the country safe will only lead to increased levels of fear, humiliation and deadly violence.
- 75New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanFilmmakers Vardit Bilu and Dalia Hagar don't seem as interested in taking sides as they do in exploring universal themes.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanOne of the rare movies from Israel that refuses to spell out its politics, and you may wind up grateful for the ambiguity.
- 70VarietyDerek ElleyVarietyDerek ElleyMixes humor, tragedy, tenderness and political acumen into a well-observed coming-of-age format.
- 70SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirI won't argue for the cinematic virtues of this film; they don't exist. But as a pseudo-documentary portrait of real life behind the explosive headlines, it's absorbing.
- 70The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenThe movie, written and directed by Vidi Bilu and Dalia Hager, is really a study of people coping with excruciating boredom and the absurd aspects of military life.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceThough it clearly means to call into question the legitimacy of their work, the movie is formlessly episodic as it meanders from one day to the next, finally losing itself in a forest of coming-of-age clichés.
- 50The New RepublicStanley KauffmannThe New RepublicStanley KauffmannIn short, this squad is an ill-trained, slovenly bunch of soldiers. That such behavior exists, or can exist, in any army is surely commonplace, but that Israeli producers should want to make a film about the matter at this time is puzzling.
- 50Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisThis movie just seems like a scattered excuse to make political points without saying much of anything. Worse, it also fails to show us, with any vividness, how Mirit and Smadar think and feel as women.