Zama (2018)
88%RT Audience Score: 78%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Zama offers a series of scathingly insightful observations about colonialism and class dynamics — and satisfyingly ends a long wait between projects from writer-director Lucrecia Martel
Zama is a movie that will leave you feeling like you just woke up from a fever dream. It’s slow, cryptic, and at times, downright bizarre. But that’s what makes it so fascinating. You’ll find yourself completely immersed in the world of colonial South America, even if you’re not entirely sure what’s going on. And when it’s all over, you’ll be left with a sense of unease that will stay with you long after the credits roll. So if you’re in the mood for something a little weird and a lot thought-provoking, give Zama a watch. Just don’t expect to fully understand it.
Production Company(ies)
Greenwich Film Productions, Herald Ace Nippon Herald Films,
Distributor
Strand Releasing
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
Year of Release
2018
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby
-
Aspect ratio:NA
-
Runtime:1h 55m
-
Language(s):
-
Country of origin:United States, Argentina, Brazil, France, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Apr 13, 2018 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 8, 2018
Genre(s)
History/Drama
Keyword(s)
Zama, History, Drama, Spanish, Lucrecia Martel, Vânia Catani, Benjamín Doménech, Santiago Gallelli, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Lola Dueñas, Matheus Nachtergaele, Juan Gervasio Minujín, Nahuel Cano, Daniel Veronese, Box Office, $200.2K, MPAA rating, Dolby Digital, reviewed by Ben Croll, reviewed by Ben Sachs, reviewed by Adam Nayman, reviewed by Jake Wilson, reviewed by Sandra Hall, reviewed by Ty Burr, reviewed by Rosa Parra, reviewed by Brian Eggert, reviewed by Andrew Murray, reviewed by Dustin Chang, reviewed by Manuel Betancourt, colonialism, class dynamics, transfer, Governors, officer, South America, existential, physical space, Antonio di Benedetto, literary adaptation, sociopolitical commentary, filmmaking
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Lola Dueñas – Luciana Piñares de Luenga
Matheus Nachtergaele – Vicuña Porto
Juan Gervasio Minujín – Ventura Prieto
Nahuel Cano – Manuel Fernández
Daniel Veronese – Gobernador
Director(s)
Lucrecia Martel
Writer(s)
Lucrecia Martel
Producer(s)
Vânia Catani, Benjamín Doménech, Santiago Gallelli
Film Festivals
Venice, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (112) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (108) | Rotten (4)
As an existential objet d’art Zama stands as a serious achievement. But that won’t prevent even the most sophisticated of cinephiles from staggering out of the theater, wondering “What in the world did I just see?”
February 12, 2020 | Rating: B
Ben Croll
indieWire
TOP CRITIC
This blackly funny-and ultimately haunting-examination of colonial history is thoroughly characteristic in its brilliant manipulation of physical space.
January 17, 2019
Ben Sachs
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
If cinema is about being transported to another place, Martel is unrivaled as a guide…
December 7, 2018
Adam Nayman
The Ringer
TOP CRITIC
Told in the typically oblique style of Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel, this adaptation of Antonio di Benedetto’s novel is nonetheless a pointed fable about the futility of colonialism.
September 27, 2018
Jake Wilson
The Age (Australia)
TOP CRITIC
You have to find your own way through Zama, slowed down by the tropical torpor that hangs over the whole film. The pace is languid, the style is cryptic and the mood is downbeat, to say the least.
September 26, 2018 | Rating: 3/5
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
TOP CRITIC
Some movies unfold as dreams; “Zama” dances us playfully toward the edge of nightmare and then asks us to open our eyes.
July 5, 2018 | Rating: 4/4
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
A well done period piece
July 3, 2022 | Rating: 3/5
Rosa Parra
Latinx Lens
Sensuous and formally audacious – a tremendous synthesis of textual adaptation, directorial authorship, sociopolitical commentary, and sophisticated filmmaking.
February 14, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
Zama manages to balance the line between being completely fascinating and utterly tedious
February 6, 2021 | Rating: 3/5
Andrew Murray
The Upcoming
Zama is an utterly brilliant film. See it on the big screen if you can.
July 17, 2020
Dustin Chang
ScreenAnarchy
Zama is that rarest of creative feats: a perfect coupling of literary source material and cinematic sensibility.
March 9, 2020
Manuel Betancourt
Remezcla
Languishing in a godforsaken, 18th-century South American colony, pining for his family and desperate beyond measure to be gone, magistrate Don Diego de Zama is in fact going precisely nowhere.
July 7, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Andiee Paviour
Nobody’s Reading This But Me…
Plot
Zama, an officer of the Spanish Crown in South America, waits for a transfer while accepting every task from successive Governors in this scathingly insightful observation of colonialism and class dynamics.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Nothing to add here about Zama.
Lucrecia-Martel.jpg
