75
Metascore
45 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The PlaylistCarlos AguilarThe PlaylistCarlos AguilarDuVernay transcends the academic nature of the material via imaginative swings of fancy that immerse us in Wilkerson mournful mindset.
- 89TheWrapTomris LafflyTheWrapTomris LafflyOrigin is so rich, expansive and wildly varied that one could easily see how DuVernay could have turned it into a mini-series. How great that she instead chose a compact and coherent feature, with articulate editing, buttery cinematography (by Matthew J. Lloyd) across various visual palettes of different time periods, and opulent costume and production design.
- 80Origin works as a visual summation of Wilkerson’s ideas. But it’s also a movie about a woman striving to bring her ideas to the world, even in the midst of her own personal crisis. The life we plan and hope for is rarely the life we get. Origin is an exhortation to use every heartbeat wisely.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNew York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriOrigin has instances of raw domestic melodrama, but the emotions are so sincere that it’s hard not to be moved by it all. The film’s depiction of moments out of history is similarly textured.
- DuVernay’s dedication to rawness and realism puts literary and conceptual devices to good use to make an affecting, vital film for our times.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeThe Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeWe’ve seen the story of a woman searching for herself after tragedy many times before, but in Origin, DuVernay affectionately makes it her own.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThe result is a film with urgency and heartfelt sympathy, but one which I couldn’t help thinking may have been better served as a documentary to focus more directly on the issues involved.
- 60Total FilmJane CrowtherTotal FilmJane CrowtherDuVernay captures the universal experience of loss: the regrets, the suffocating sorrow.
- 42IndieWireLeila LatifIndieWireLeila LatifDuVernay’s film is unable to fuse melodrama and academia into a single narrative, even with such rich source material and as fascinating a subject as Isabel Wilkerson. The only possible conclusion it invites is every film critic’s least favorite sentence: Just read the book.