73
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100RogerEbert.comRogerEbert.comRebeca Huntt's Beba is the coming-of-age story that Black American children have been waiting for, a documentary that encompasses every step of reclamation of an American bloodline.
- 90VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeAn insightful, engaging and all-around affirmational auto-portrait from an Afro-Latina New Yorker with an ear for poetry and an eye for the ineffable, Beba never questions its own right to exist.
- 85TheWrapRonda Racha PenriceTheWrapRonda Racha PenriceIt’s never easy for anyone to offer themselves for public inspection, even when personal expression is the key. So what unfolds in Beba is wrought with contradictions, as well as portraits that Huntt probably did not intend to paint.
- 83IndieWireRobert DanielsIndieWireRobert DanielsWithout hesitation, she talks about her own shortcomings too. She does so with an assured hand, an open heart, and a heady way of seeing the world. But other parts of her are obscured, and those questions might leave one wanting.
- 83The A.V. ClubMark KeizerThe A.V. ClubMark KeizerIt can be overwhelming at times, and it’s true that Huntt’s deeply rooted powers of introspection can sometimes curdle into self-absorption. But her lacerating honesty and restless, searching spirit make Beba a virtuoso bomb-drop of a documentary.
- 80The New YorkerRichard BrodyThe New YorkerRichard BrodyBeba is an intimate film with a grand scope; Huntt recognizes herself and her family as characters in a mighty drama. She conceives the complex course of intertwined personal experiences and public events as a kind of destiny.
- 75Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreAn alternately searing and scalding piece of family history that doesn’t spare the beautiful narcissist doing the examining.
- 70Screen DailyTim GriersonScreen DailyTim GriersonThe free-flowing style, aided by dreamlike editing from Isabel Freeman, is both playful and sombre, offering a captivating snapshot of a young artist trying to make sense of her complicated self.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThe tone of the film is sometimes a little opaque. There is some slightly cliched 16mm footage of subway scenes and indulgent home-movie material and Huntt’s own voiceover has something of the student graduation piece about it. But there is a rich, dense texture to this very questioning, personal film.
- 42The PlaylistCharles BramescoThe PlaylistCharles BramescoNever lacking in earnestness or vigor, she nonetheless teeters over the lines separating introspection from navel-gazing and the raw from the simply underdone.