Popular reviews

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  Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★½

  tfw shit's low and you're coming of age
  and confused as hell, and while everyone
  else is out doing their thing you just say
  fuck it, steal a dog, strip naked, and walk
  blindfolded into a body of water because
  it feels like something you need to do;
  see the water up close, before it vanishes.

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  Review by Olivier Lemay ★★★★½ 2

  honestly being naked and covered in clay while robbing people at gunpoint at a naked beach sounds like a perfect date for me 

  almost half of the people in the theatre (3/7) walked out but like i don't understand that movie was so fun and gorgeous and it had the best use of the song Sabali ever (even more so than in Le Cœur de Madame Sabali which is a lot because that shit was awesome)

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  Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★½ 1

  61/100

  MUBI review. You know a movie is working when even its most wrongheaded ideas feature stray elements of the sublime. The last thing I wanted, especially given the strength of Ava's mother-daughter* dynamic, was a third act shift into young-lovers-on-the-lam mode; the ending, in particular, is thoroughly unsatisfying—so much so that it would usually be a dealbreaker for me. Here, though, the whole unspoken backstory involving a minor character, who shows up still wearing her wedding dress (but says nothing whatsoever), reminded me of the offbeat specificity that made the film's ramshackle first hour such a delight. (Plus, her car's headlights gradually illuminating the pitch-black frame is both visually stunning and metaphorically apt.) Similarly, Mysius' more outré touches, like…

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  Review by Sarah ★★★★½

  say fuck it and blindly walk into the sea letting the ocean take you and shout at you to grow up

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  Review by MUBI

  With her new film The Five Devils out, let’s travel back to Léa Mysius’s beguiling debut: a rapturous exploration of female sexuality and teenage fears that blends ravishing color, whimsical humor, and the dreamy melancholy of a transformative summer. Bonus: that soundtrack!

  Now streaming in 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇮🇹 🇮🇳 🇮🇪 🇧🇷 🇲🇽 🇩🇪 here.

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  Review by DNA cinephile🏳️‍🌈 ★★★½

  Ava. 2017. Directed by Lea Mysius.

  Ava (2017) is a great summer romance movie with a pathological twist. Thirteen year old Ava portrayed by Noee Abita will lose her vision. As a result, she goes on a female journey of discovery, bravery, and a life altering quest. As the song states, “She ain’t a child no more.” Great supporting performance by Laure Calamy who is no stranger to us or the camera. Ava is a tender, yet hardcore coming of age story. 

  Viewed on Mubi.

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  Review by Graham Williamson ★★★½ 6

  52 films by women 2018: 3/52.

  There's no way that I can be fully critical of the work of a director whose debut film was called Exquisite Corpse, and indeed Léa Mysius's Cannes-approved coming-of-age film has a lot to recommend it. There's also one big flaw, which is this: the title character, who is frequently sexualised and frequently nude, is meant to be thirteen years old.

  I don't object to films acknowledging that thirteen-year-olds can have sexual feelings: they obviously do. And it's not as if Ava is played by a thirteen-year-old actress; Noée Abita was eighteen during filming. The problem is that neither Abita nor Mysius act like the character is thirteen. There's no uncertainty in her, no fear…

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  Review by Andre de Nervaux ★★★★

  A rare coming of age story told beautifully.

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  Review by Thomas ★★★

  “Ava” is the feature film debut of both the director Léa Mysius and the lead actress Noée Abita and both show promise. It follows the teenage girl Ava, who gets the diagnosis that she will slowly but surely loose her sight. On a summer vacation with her mother, Ava tries to prepare herself for this frightening new reality and finds solace in her newfound relationship with the rebellious bad boy Juan.

  I really like the contrast between the melancholic subject matter and the delightful summer vacation setting. Mysius shows a fine sensibility for mood and a great eye for aesthetic, as the whole film is full of beautiful shots and even some creative surreal visuals.

  Noée Abita delivers a charismatic…

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  Review by Laura

  Started out beautifully but by the end of the second act I just... lost all interest.

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  Review by Enfant du Siècle ★★★½ 2

  Ava is the portrait of a teenage girl who, faced with the imminence of losing her sight, undertakes a journey that will lead her to enjoy her youth with irreverence and freedom before accepting her unfortunate destiny. The story begins slowly and gradually reveals Ava's complicated personality, the relationship with her mother, the nightmares that haunt her, as well as her longings and frustrations. Technically I thought it was a very well executed film, the composition of some shots are really remarkable and the use of music score very successful. I have to confess that, in my opinion, not everything comes together with sufficient strength, and the last act slightly declines, but the ambiguous and somewhat hopeful end rescues this…

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  Review by Moresbi ★★★½

  "Ava" was raw, captivating and uncompromising... though unfortunately, too ambiguous too.

  I'm still unsure about if she's only losing her night vision or her vision, period :S Anyway, Ava's life was a rather stark, dark and depressive routine that seems to gnaw at her, which leads to several very significant events.

  Noée Abita was quite captivating to watch but not really looking her meant age, I thought. Lupo was solid in a very wolfish way :D Laure Calamy was, well, I think erotic was the word.

  Pretty bold and liberating regarding nudity (in general) and Ava's sexual "awakening", of sorts.
  I can't fail to mention the very neat nightmare sequence, which has a very "Mata Batin" scene lol Coincidences, coincidences…