Tabu Reviews
November 12, 2020
Miguel Gomes has made a liquid film of period romance that delves into social responsibility, cultural mingling and the torturous nature of repression, all the while maintaining a playful anti-sentimentalism that reeks of fresh air.
July 2, 2019
A romantic film about lost love and classic cinema, Tabu is definitely worth seeking out.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7.5/10
February 2, 2019
A beguiling black and white drama that spans both decades and continents, this is mesmeric, conscientious filmmaking at its most ambitious and expansive.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
August 30, 2018
The toothy scene-stealers are a Herzoggian reminder of nature and mortality that is part of a well-crafted cinematic reality.
February 21, 2018
It fits snugly with recent European films like Chantal Akerman's "Almayer's Folly" and Claire Denis' "White Material," which have explored the ongoing legacy of colonialism.
October 4, 2017
Tabu is strange, powerfully evocative, playfully experimental, and truly one of the most beautiful films in recent years.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/5
June 2, 2014
'Tabu' is a strange and hypnotizing moving image poem with no comprehensive or unifying point of comparison.
Full Review
| Original Score: A
November 10, 2013
A recovered memory of something that never happened.
Full Review
| Original Score: 9/10
September 27, 2013
It's one of those rarities when too many compliments are not enough and the recommendation to see it as soon as it's near you cannot be stressed enough.
Full Review
| Original Score: A
June 5, 2013
The art-house film transcends some absurd moments and leaves us with a lyrical and magically satisfying romantic adventure story that is both eccentric and sublime.
Full Review
| Original Score: A
May 16, 2013
While the path through this unconventional film is not always obvious, it is a sensuous, mysterious and intoxicating path worth taking.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
May 14, 2013
This beguiling and eerie tale of illicit romance and nostalgia for lost love is one for the patient and the adventurous.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
May 12, 2013
If you are still awake after the first hour of this challenging and often off-putting film from Miguel Gomez, you may find unexpected ethereal rewards in the second half, when a curious, dialogue-free narrative transports us into another realm
May 1, 2013
Every so often a film comes along that recharges your love of cinema. Miguel Gomes' Tabu is just that gem: a film of such artistry and daring that you'll be left dazzled by the possibilities of the medium.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/5
April 5, 2013
It takes a while to get to the meat of the movie, but it's well worth the wait.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
February 14, 2013
It almost seems a parody of willfully obscure art-house fare. Yet it has an undertow that sucks you in as often as it strands you back on shore.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
February 11, 2013
The latter part of the film recalls 1987's "White Mischief," but in Gomes's hands, the story becomes much more...the past and the present continually flow into one another...
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
February 7, 2013
A kind of jigsaw puzzle, spiced up with references to "White Mischief," "Out of Africa" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," that will frustrate some audiences and fascinate others.
Original Score: 3/4
February 7, 2013
The black-and-white cinematography and silent-film feel are haunting and nostalgic, and Aurora's story encapsulates a broader, bittersweet truth about the perils of tinted memory.
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
January 27, 2013
For a decades-spanning, country-hopping romance on a low budget, "Tabu" looks great...it intentionally evokes in aesthetics, settings and/or plot elements such cinematic classics as "Casablanca," "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946) and more.
Full Review
| Original Score: B