Seven-Word Reviews solicits contributors to assess or describe a film using a total of seven words, jotting them down on anything at hand. The series is inspired by cinema's status as the seventh art, and the internet's increasing emphasis on critical brevity. For this edition, critics and programmers at the 79th Cannes Film Festival to share their reviews.
MARK ASCH
Teenage Sex ans Death at Camp Miasma (Jane Schoenbrun), Diary of a Chambermaid (Radu Jude)
PEDRO EMILIO SEGURA BERNAL
?, Coward (Lukas Dhont), Double Freedom (Lisandro Alonso)
JORDAN CRONK
Minotaur (Andrey Zvyagintsev), Sheep in the Box (Hirokazu Kore-eda), Parallel Tales (Asghar Farhadi)
FLAVIA DIMA
Fjord (Christian Mungiu), Double Freedom (Lisandro Alonso), 9 Temples to Heaven (Sompot Chidgasornpongse), Hope (Na Hong-jin), Fatherland (Paweł Pawlikowski)
THOMAS FLEW
Hope (Na Hong-jin), Minotaur (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
LEONARDO GOI
The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
ERIC HYNES
Parallel Tales (Asghar Farhadi)
SONA KARAPOGHOSYAN
Torino Shadow (Jia Zhangke), Everytime (Sandra Wollner), La gradiva (Marine Atlan), Low Expectations (Eivind Landsvik)
MAJA KORBECKA
Bitter Christmas (Pedro Almodóvar), Fjord (Cristian Mungiu), The Man I Love (Ira Sachs), Torino Shadow (Jia Zhangke), Minotaur (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
GABE KLINGER
Thank You for Coming (Alain Cavalier), Paper Tiger (James Gray), the Pelechian Project (Artavazd Peleshyan), Double Freedom (Lisandro Alonso)
DOROTA LECH
Diary of a Chambermaid (Radu Jude)
GUY LODGE
All of a Sudden (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
JORGE NEGRETE
Bitter Christmas (Pedro Almodóvar)
KONG RITHDEE
9 Temples to Heaven (Sompot Chidgasornpongse), Coward (Lukas Dhont), Fjord (Cristian Mungiu)
RAFA SALES ROSS
The Beloved (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
SAVINA PETKOVA
The Dreamed Adventure (Valeska Grisebach)
ÖYKÜ SOFUOĞLU
The Unknown (Arthur Harari)
JADIE STILLWELL
The Black Ball (Javier Calvo & Javier Ambrossi)
ANTOINE THIRION
The Unknown (Arthur Harari)
KEVA YORK
Full Phil (Quentin Dupieux)
Illustrations by Ionut Vancea.