Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.
DuVernay, a low-key director sparing in her use of emotion and music, has made an existential drama that is European in its feel. Read full review
This is a tough-minded story of change that happens in almost imperceptibly tiny increments - as true growth so often does in reality. Read full review
In a cinema landscape where the representation of the black female experience is most visibly explored through the modes of outlandish comedy, unironic melodrama, or not at all, Ava DuVernay's take is a decidedly refreshing one. Read full review
Sometimes, the quiet lyricism of DuVernay’s direction seems at odds with the grittiness of the subject matter, like poetry force-fed into prose. Read full review
Middle of Nowhere isn't a highly charged drama, as you might have gathered. Most of the action takes place within the mind of a lonely woman. That's why Corinealdi is so effective in the lead. Read full review
Nothing is easily resolved in this complex drama, which makes it all the more honestly moving. More than anything, this is a film about a woman on a journey of self-discovery, finding her way gingerly. Read full review
A deceptively slight film that strikes the right balance between realist family drama and earnestness. Read full review
Director Ava DuVernay, in showing Ruby's life in waiting, occasionally lets the pace slip into tedium. Read full review
At heart, Middle of Nowhere offers material we've seen many times before. But between her perceptive direction and Corinealdi's layered performance, this modest, micro-budgeted story has been beautifully packaged. Read full review
What makes Middle of Nowhere a break-even proposition, rather than something to avoid, is that it deals with an aspect of life and with characters rarely seen in movies. Read full review