
Almost every critic is won over. Of twenty-four reviews, twenty-three are positive and one is mixed, which is as close to unanimity as the reviews get. The praise settles first on how Kapadia films Mumbai: the rain, the neon, the crowded trains, and the way the light shifts from the harsh city to the calmer coast. The performances of Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha come next, with several reviews noting that the two women find harmony rather than friction. Many also single out the mix of documentary observation and something close to dreaming.
Where critics hesitate, it is nearly always over the move to the countryside late on. The AV Club finds that stretch less tethered to reality, and Collider calls the film slow and dour before a hopeful last act rewards patience. Deadline takes the opposite view and holds the hallucinatory third act up as the film’s strongest passage. Vulture notes that sadness lingers under the ending. The spread is narrow, from approving to rapturous, and nobody dismisses it.
L
Little White Lies
28 November 2024 · 4/5/5 · Jenna Mahale
100
Mahale calls the film a gorgeous romance that captures Mumbai’s particular romantic chaos. She praises its transportive visuals and subtle, powerful details of desi girlhood.
Read the full review →I
IndieWire
13 November 2024 · A · Sophie Monks Kaufman
95
Kaufman calls the film a sensual triumph, praising its intimate and hypnotic portrait of two nurses’ lives in Mumbai. She especially singles out the richly composed cinematography and the performances of Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha.
Read the full review →N
The New Yorker
14 November 2024 · Justin Chang
95*
Chang calls the film one of the year’s great movies, praising its radiant, atmospheric portrait of Mumbai and women’s solidarity. He especially singles out the lead performances, whose contrasting characters find harmony rather than conflict.
Read the full review →L
Los Angeles Times
15 November 2024 · Joshua Rothkopf
90*
Rothkopf praises the film as subtle, assured and politically resonant, finding its portrait of women’s solidarity deeply moving. He singles out the shift into near-fantastical realms as the film’s transformative strength.
Read the full review →G
The Guardian
23 May 2024 · Peter Bradshaw
90*
Bradshaw finds the film a glorious, absorbing triumph, rich in humanity and emotional clarity. He singles out its dreamlike storytelling and the revelation that brings Prabha closer to understanding her life.
Read the full review →S
Slant Magazine
26 May 2024 · ★★★½/4 · Ryan Coleman
88
The critic calls the film an exceptional, generous portrait of Mumbai and its people. They praise Kapadia’s fluid camerawork for contrasting the women’s confinement with the city’s openness.
Read the full review →E
Empire
2 December 2024 · Gavia Baker-Whitelaw
85*
The critic finds it a memorable, compassionate drama that makes a clear statement about working-class women’s constraints. She praises Kapadia’s precise characterisation and the film’s immersive rhythms of city life.
Read the full review →S
Sight and Sound
26 May 2024 · festival review
85*
The critic finds the film a delicate, assured portrait of Mumbai and its residents, and sees Kapadia as a filmmaker of significant promise. They single out Kani Kusruti’s restrained performance and the film’s poetic, carefully observed blend of realism and dreamlike imagery.
Read the full review →V
Variety
23 May 2024 · Critic's Pick · Jessica Kiang
83*
Kiang finds the film a gently luminous portrait of connection and unexpected sisterhood. She especially praises its richly observed, beautifully lit portrayal of Mumbai after dark.
Read the full review →R
Radio Times
★★★★ · Max Copeman
80
The review describes the film as a serene, soulful and transcendent portrait of love and sisterhood. It praises Kapadia’s blend of urban documentary and near-dreamlike drama.
Read the full review →H
The Hollywood Reporter
23 May 2024 · festival review · Jordan Mintzer
80*
Mintzer finds the film a rich, moving tale of love and loss, balancing melancholy with humor. He singles out its luminous visual transformation from Mumbai’s harsh neon to the calm seaside light.
Read the full review →T
Time Out
16 May 2024 · ★★★★ · Phil de Semlyen
80
The review presents the film as a hopeful drama that refuses to give in to gloom. It singles out its tough tenderness and quiet feminist fury.
Read the full review →A
The AV Club
12 November 2024 · B · Jacob Oller
77
Oller finds the film intimate, lyrical, and emotionally perceptive, though its shift to the countryside feels less connected to reality. He especially praises how Kapadia captures the women’s tenderness and solidarity amid Mumbai’s crowded, rain-soaked atmosphere.
Read the full review →V
Vulture
15 November 2024 · Bilge Ebiri
75*
Ebiri admires the film’s intimate, shimmering portrait of Mumbai and its women, while noting that sadness lingers beneath its hopeful ending. He singles out Kapadia’s mesmerizing, dreamlike filmmaking for praise.
Read the full review →S
Screen Daily
23 May 2024 · festival review · Fionnuala Halligan
70*
Halligan presents Kapadia’s debut as eloquent and warmly observed. The available standfirst singles out its portrait of three women seeking a place in modern Mumbai.
Read the full review →O
The Observer
20 May 2025 · Anuj Mishra
70*
Mishra presents the film as a compelling, unsentimental portrait of Mumbai’s exclusions rather than a love letter to the city. He singles out its frank portrayal of urban displacement and the obstacles facing its characters.
Read the full review →N
The New York Times
14 November 2024 · Manohla Dargis
64*
The page’s text is inaccessible, so the critic’s verdict cannot be confirmed. No specific praise or complaint can be reliably reported from the available content.
Read the full review →S
The Skinny
25 November 2024 · ★★★★★ · Ben Nicholson
100
Nicholson praises the film as a beautiful, delicate and expressive character study. He singles out Kapadia’s lyrical, rain-soaked portrait of Mumbai and the nuanced lives of its three women.
Read the full review →P
Paste
11 September 2024 · 8.6 · Natalia Keogan
88*
Keogan finds the film a stunning, politically astute portrait of modern Mumbai and its women. She particularly praises its practical lighting and cinematography for immersing viewers in the city’s texture.
Read the full review →D
Deadline
25 May 2024 · festival review · Damon Wise
85*
Wise praises Kapadia’s film as an evocative, quietly ambitious meditation on ordinary women and life in Mumbai. He particularly singles out the hallucinatory third act for confirming Kapadia as a major new talent.
Read the full review →E
Eye for Film
30 May 2024 · festival review · Amber Wilkinson
85*
Wilkinson finds the film tender, immersive and emotionally buoyant. She especially praises Kapadia’s gentle visual craft and the warmth of the characters’ interactions.
Read the full review →W
The Wrap
23 May 2024 · festival review
85*
The critic finds the film beguiling and tender, balancing Mumbai’s harsh realities with romantic yearning. They single out a quietly luminous scene in which Prabha reads a poem by her open window.
Read the full review →The headline indicates an approving verdict, saying the film earns its accolades. The review’s specific praise is unavailable because the page is blocked.
Read the full review →C
Collider
14 October 2024 · 7/10 · Emma Kiely
70
Kiely finds the film slow and dour but ultimately soulful, with a hopeful final act that rewards patience. She especially praises the camerawork for making crowded Mumbai feel profoundly lonely.
Read the full review →Ordered by the weight we give each publication, then by score. Scores are normalised to 100; * means inferred from an unrated review. Summaries are ours, not quotations; follow the links for the reviews themselves. How we rate