Playground

Name: Playground
Genre: Drama
Released: February 11, 2022
Duration: 72 min
Rating: 86
Cast: Günter Duret, Karim Leklou, Laura Verlinden, Lena Girard Voss, Maya Vanderbeque

2022

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

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7.9

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7.9	Your Score
7.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

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Playground (US Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

Film Movement | Release Date: February 11, 2022 | Not Rated

Starring: Günter Duret, Karim Leklou, Laura Verlinden, Lena Girard Voss, Maya Vanderbeque, Simon Caudry, Thao Maerten

Movie Facts:

Shortlisted for the 2021 Academy Award for Best International Film.

Summary: Following 7-year-old Nora and her big brother Abel, we see Nora struggling to fit in before finding her place on the schoolyard. One day, she notices Abel being bullied by other kids, and though she rushes to protect him by warning their father, Abel forces her to remain silent, while he endures more humiliation and harassment by his peers.

Director: Laura Wandel

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 72 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Empire Alex Godfrey

Apr 25, 2022

A claustrophobic portrait of pre-adolescent turmoil, this is an exceptionally taut drama. It’s Wandel’s debut feature, and it feels like she’s been preparing for it her whole life. Read full review

100

Manohla Dargis

Feb 13, 2022

This is the first feature from the writer-director Laura Wandel, and it’s a knockout, as flawlessly constructed as it is harrowing. Read full review

Justin Chang

Feb 17, 2022

No one in this movie has a complete understanding of what’s going on, but Wandel proves that a sensitive enough camera can provide a fuller picture than most. Read full review

IndieWire Susannah Gruder

Feb 11, 2022

While Wandel does well to leave some things to the imagination, like what happens beyond the schoolyard, she not-so-subtly nails the point home in the end, showing how all it takes is one person to stop bullying at its source. Still, her film is an arresting, eye-opening look at how violence begins at an early age, and how we can learn to be bystanders, or have the strength to speak out. Read full review

The Telegraph Robbie Collin

Apr 27, 2022

Vitally, Wandel doesn’t ramp up the misery here for dramatic effect, but rather successfully makes the fairly everyday unpleasantness feel as chest-clutchingly hopeless as it would to – well, a seven-year-old. Read full review

Tara Brady

Apr 21, 2022

At 72 minutes, Playground falls shy of feature length, yet it atones with a sickening sense of dread and pinpoint emotional accuracy. The performances that Wandel coaxes out of her young cast are remarkable and often painful to behold. Read full review

Caitlin Quinlan

Apr 21, 2022

Wandel displays her clear skill as a director of actors in this exercise, but there is the sense that this could have been a painfully visceral short film instead of elongated into a feature where it begins to feel overdone. Read full review

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User Reviews

DawdlingPoet

Sep 19, 2022

This is quite a powerful film, even quietly devastating in a way, about the impact and implications of childhood bullying. Its hard not to feel for both Nora and her dad, as well as her brother Abel. Imagining myself in Nora's shoes, I'm not sure what I'd do differently. It seemed veryThis is quite a powerful film, even quietly devastating in a way, about the impact and implications of childhood bullying. Its hard not to feel for both Nora and her dad, as well as her brother Abel. Imagining myself in Nora's shoes, I'm not sure what I'd do differently. It seemed very realistic and its certainly insightful. A good film for starting a discussion about school bullying, I'd recommend this, yes.… Expand

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