X
  • 2023
  • Kimstim Films
  • 1 h 30 m
  • 2023
  • Kimstim Films
  • 1 h 30 m
White Building

Summary 20-year-old Samnang and two of his friends live in the White Building, a landmark tenement in Phnom Penh. In this fast-changing city, the three boys practice their dance routine dreaming of television talent contests while their parents lead a more traditional lifestyle. But the White Building is to be demolished. Samnang observes his fa...

Directed By: Kavich Neang

Written By: Daniel Mattes, Kavich Neang

  • 2023
  • Kimstim Films
  • 1 h 30 m
  • 2023
  • Kimstim Films
  • 1 h 30 m

White Building

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
69
User Score Generally Favorable Based on 4 User Ratings
6.5
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Summary 20-year-old Samnang and two of his friends live in the White Building, a landmark tenement in Phnom Penh. In this fast-changing city, the three boys practice their dance routine dreaming of television talent contests while their parents lead a more traditional lifestyle. But the White Building is to be demolished. Samnang observes his fa...

Directed By: Kavich Neang

Written By: Daniel Mattes, Kavich Neang

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
69
63% Positive
5 Reviews
38% Mixed
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
69
63% Positive
5 Reviews
38% Mixed
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
90
Jun 16, 2023
Demolition is a state of mind in White Building, Cambodian filmmaker Kavich Neang’s sad, beautiful feature debut, an urban elegy about what’s thick in the air when the home one has always known is not long for the world.
By Robert Abele FULL REVIEW
80
May 22, 2023
The movie seems lived-in; its virtually tactile details and its trenchantly analytical dialogue feel like intimate aspects of the filmmaker's audiovisual, emotional, and intellectual experience.
By Richard Brody FULL REVIEW
75
The film’s depiction of life impacted by urban transformation conjures a palpable aura of entrapment and helplessness.
By Derek Smith FULL REVIEW
67
May 17, 2023
Neang doesn’t widen his focus beyond the characters; they’re at risk of displacement from the city they’ve always known, but this critique of gentrification largely remains implicit, visible only allegorically through their daily struggles.
By Alistair Ryder FULL REVIEW
60
Apr 20, 2022
Even just the rooftop of this vast, scabbed Phnom Penh apartment complex seems to have a thousand stories to tell — it’s perhaps little wonder that Neang’s melancholic, perplexed, slightly ponderous feature debut gets a little lost navigating them.
By Jessica Kiang FULL REVIEW
60
Apr 20, 2022
While the film is contemplative, intimate and visually arresting, its deliberately slow pace lessens its dramatic impact.
By Nikki Baughan FULL REVIEW
60
Apr 20, 2022
This is a gentle-going watch, understated – underpowered even – and sometimes a little drowsy. Still, it has real sensitivity and insight into the transition to adulthood, as gradually it dawns on Nang that his parents don’t have all the answers.
By Cath Clarke FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 4 User Ratings
6.5
50% Positive
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 4 User Ratings
6.5
50% Positive
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company Anti-Archive, Apsara Films, Xstream Pictures, Kongchak Pictures, CNC Aide aux cinémas du monde - Institut Français, Institut Français, Doha Film Institute, Fonds Images de la Francophonie, Visions Sud Est, World Cinema Fund, MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Torino Film Lab
Release Date May 19, 2023
Duration 1 h 30 m
Genres
Website http://www.antiarchive.com/whitebuilding.html
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Awards

Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Venice Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Cambodia International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

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