Enter a Rotten Tomatoes movie slug to inspect the stored movie, batches, snapshots, and reviews.
Movie ID: 1201
RT slug: reality_2023
RT URL: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/reality_2023
Release year: 2023
Runtime: 83 mins
Wide release date: —
Limited release date: —
Festival premiere date: —
Streaming release date: 2023-05-29
Tomatometer final: 93%
Audience score final: 66%
Genres: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Directors: Tina Satter
Writers: James Paul Dallas, Tina Satter
Producers: Brad Becker-Parton, Greg Nobile, Noah Stahl, Riva Marker
MPAA rating: —
Executive Producers: —
Created: 2026-08-21 15:22:59
Updated: 2026-08-21 15:22:59
On a Saturday afternoon, in June 2017, Reality Winner, a 25-year-old in cut-off jeans, is confronted at her Georgia home by the FBI. A cryptic conversation begins and Reality's life quickly begins to unravel.
Reality's narrow scope and gripping fact-based story add up to a riveting showcase for Sydney Sweeney in the title role.
Canonical reviews: 103
Canonical fresh: 96
Canonical rotten: 7
Canonical calculated Tomatometer: 93%
Latest snapshot UTC: 2026-08-21 15:09:32
Snapshot Tomatometer: 93%
Snapshot review count: 103
Snapshot fresh count: 96
Snapshot rotten count: 7
Source note: Imported from manual review paste batch #2968 (full_snapshot)
| Company | Role |
|---|---|
| HBO | distributor |
| 2 Sq Ft | production |
| Burn These Words | production |
| Cinereach | production |
| Fit Via Vi Film Productions | production |
| In the Cut Productions | production |
| Seaview Productions | production |
| Tanbark Pictures | production |
| Billing | Name | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney Sweeney | Reality Winner |
| 2 | Josh Hamilton | Garrick |
| 3 | Marchánt Davis | Taylor |
| 4 | John Way | FBI Agent |
| 5 | Benny Elledge | Joe |
| Batch ID | Status | Mode | Created | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1217 | processed | — | 2026-08-21 15:22:59 | Processed successfully into movie_id=1201 using update_mode=merge_non_empty. |
| Batch ID | Local Snapshot | UTC Snapshot | Entered % | Entered Count | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2968 | 2026-08-21 10:09:00 (America/Panama) | 2026-08-21 15:09:32 | 93% | 103 | processed | Mode=full_snapshot. Processed 103 row(s); 0 row error(s). Parsed unique reviews in this batch=103, fresh=96, rotten=7, tomatometer=93%. Net new reviews added=103, fresh=96, rotten=7. Current canonical totals=103 reviews, 96 fresh, 7 rotten, tomatometer=93% (93.204%). Entered review count matched parsed batch count (103). Entered tomatometer matched parsed batch value (93%). |
| ID | Critic | Outlet | Fresh? | Score | RT Time Raw | Approx Published UTC | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 248101 | Yasser Medina | Cinefilia | Rotten | 6/10 | 2026-02-01T01:44:03.000Z | 2026-02-01 01:44:03 | A drama that, to some extent, benefits from Sydney Sweeney's understated performance as the whistleblower, but whose narrative, unfortunately, loses its consistent tone with each skewed question in its ethical discourse. [Full review in Spanish] |
| 248102 | Samantha Schuster | Cinéfilo Serial | Fresh | 3.5/5 | 2025-07-25T12:47:07.000Z | 2025-07-25 12:47:07 | It takes a true story and presents it in an original and creative way, preserving a documentary tone. Thanks to strong performances and a meticulously crafted script, it manages to explore American political maneuvering. [Full Review in Spanish] |
| 248103 | Marta Medina Pérez | mundoCine | Fresh | 3/5 | 2025-07-22T16:50:51.000Z | 2025-07-22 16:50:51 | [Reality] is Sweeney's tour de force. [Full Review in Spanish] |
| 248104 | John Daniel Tangalin | The Cinema Spot | Fresh | 4/5 | 2025-07-18T22:05:38.000Z | 2025-07-18 22:05:38 | Tina Satter’s Reality is sufficiently compelling as a psychological drama. Her production team and cast hold the depiction of the investigation together, however, it could not work without Sydney Sweeney’s involvement. |
| 248105 | Wilson Kwong | Film Inquiry | Fresh | — | 2025-02-05T03:10:11.000Z | 2025-02-05 03:10:11 | Working within the confines of what was actually said and done, Satter still manages to create emotional aptitude in what could have been a rather stale true crime story. This is undoubtedly one of the more underrated films of 2023. |
| 248106 | Christina Newland | iNews.co.uk | Fresh | 4/5 | 2024-09-18T00:51:54.000Z | 2024-09-18 00:51:54 | Sweeney's complex tricky performance – mixed with the emotional stakes – makes this intriguing drama completely absorbing. |
| 248107 | William Stottor | Loud and Clear Reviews | Fresh | 4/5 | 2024-09-03T09:56:19.000Z | 2024-09-03 09:56:19 | Sydney Sweeney shines as real life whistleblower Reality Winner in Reality, Tina Satter’s taut chamber piece adaptation of her award-winning play. |
| 248108 | Hannah Brown | Jerusalem Post | Fresh | — | 2024-07-25T21:07:26.000Z | 2024-07-25 21:07:26 | It’s hard for most of us to get inside the heads of people like this, but Reality, and particularly Sweeney’s performance, illuminates this mind-set. |
| 248109 | Ross McIndoe | The Skinny | Fresh | 3/5 | 2024-07-04T15:29:36.000Z | 2024-07-04 15:29:36 | Reality makes for a compelling, quiet-spoken thriller, but its rigid adherence to factuality also leaves it a little boxed in, cutting it off from any greater truth about Winner’s story. |
| 248110 | Connor Lightbody | TAKE ONE Magazine | Fresh | 4.5/5 | 2024-07-04T13:27:48.000Z | 2024-07-04 13:27:48 | a fantastic, stranger-than-fiction diorama of surrealist fact [that is] symbolic of the political fragments of the American populace |
| 248111 | Diego Batlle | Otroscines.com | Fresh | 4/5 | 2024-02-06T01:07:59.000Z | 2024-02-06 01:07:59 | ... A fascinating, captivating, and revealing film. [Full review in Spanish] |
| 248112 | Walter Chaw | Film Freak Central | Fresh | — | 2024-01-05T01:09:13.000Z | 2024-01-05 01:09:13 | I can't say that any of these films has a happy ending, per se: they feel like a drowning person reaching for the rope trailing behind the ship after falling overboard--but here we are still thrashing. Doomed, you know, but not dead yet. |
| 248113 | Ana Yorke | PopMatters | Fresh | — | 2023-12-29T20:55:35.000Z | 2023-12-29 20:55:35 | Reality is a painfully effective, tense chamber piece on the nature of authority... |
| 248114 | Javier Ocaña | El Pais (Spain) | Fresh | — | 2023-09-25T21:39:40.000Z | 2023-09-25 21:39:40 | Through that cold, synthetic, and strange interrogation, Satter creates formidable tension. [Full review in Spanish] |
| 248115 | Nadine Whitney | The Curb | Fresh | A | 2023-09-07T03:58:24.000Z | 2023-09-07 03:58:24 | Reality is a striking work that cannot be dismissed in the contemporary era of politics and “post-truth narratives.” Sydney Sweeney’s performance alone is worth the audience’s time, and how the film is constructed and what it says is daring and dynamic. |
| 248116 | Grant Watson | Fiction Machine | Fresh | 8/10 | 2023-08-30T00:45:35.000Z | 2023-08-30 00:45:35 | Sweeney performs like a proverbial onion, peeling back layers of uncertainty and ambiguity throughout. Has she done something wrong? Does she know it if she did? |
| 248117 | Matthew Turner | VODzilla.co | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-08-08T12:00:24.000Z | 2023-08-08 12:00:24 | Cleverly directed and featuring a star-making performance from Sydney Sweeney, this is one of the best films of 2022. |
| 248118 | Matt Pais | MattPais.com | Fresh | B | 2023-07-31T11:57:14.000Z | 2023-07-31 11:57:14 | Generates enormous tension from the gradual emergence of truth and the complicated question of what to do with it. |
| 248119 | Farah Cheded | A Good Movie To Watch | Fresh | 70/100 | 2023-07-26T23:13:40.000Z | 2023-07-26 23:13:40 | Even if it ultimately hits a ceiling, the movie’s central turn, mastery of tone, and Satter’s literalizing of the tension between truth versus fiction in Trump-era America make it an intriguing experiment worth watching. |
| 248120 | John McDonald | Australian Financial Review | Fresh | — | 2023-07-26T07:16:32.000Z | 2023-07-26 07:16:32 | It’s a painful invasion of privacy, a slow-motion assault. |
| 248121 | Jillian Chilingerian | Offscreen Central | Fresh | — | 2023-07-25T20:31:32.000Z | 2023-07-25 20:31:32 | From the first shot, director Tina Satter creates an unsettling retelling of an infamous whistleblower interrogation through minimalistic design, natural performances, and disoriented editing leading to one of the tensest films of the year. |
| 248122 | Tina Kakadelis | Beyond the Cinerama Dome | Fresh | — | 2023-07-24T14:48:30.000Z | 2023-07-24 14:48:30 | More than a compelling narrative film, Reality shows that it’s entirely possible to maintain the reality of a situation without compromising the cinematic possibilities. Reality understands that truth always trumps fiction. |
| 248123 | Sarah Ward | Concrete Playground | Fresh | — | 2023-07-22T01:02:21.000Z | 2023-07-22 01:02:21 | With gripping chills and dripping dread, it puts viewers in Winner's shoes as her world turns — and ours — but the world keeps turning. |
| 248124 | Fletcher Powell | KMUW - Wichita Public Radio | Fresh | — | 2023-07-20T20:57:08.000Z | 2023-07-20 20:57:08 | That Satter and Sweeney are able to create such suspense when we already know where we’re going is a testament to their abilities. |
| 248125 | Damien Straker | Impulse Gamer | Fresh | 3.5/5 | 2023-07-15T12:17:29.000Z | 2023-07-15 12:17:29 | Reality is eighty minutes of ongoing palpable tension. |
| 248126 | Steve Murray | ArtsATL | Fresh | — | 2023-07-14T19:40:34.000Z | 2023-07-14 19:40:34 | Satter does a decent job of establishing and maintaining a low-level hum of anxiety as Reality slowly realizes the quiet, deep danger she’s in... |
| 248127 | Jane Freebury | The Canberra Times (Australia) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-07-09T11:21:57.000Z | 2023-07-09 11:21:57 | A gripping, slow-burn political thriller based on FBI records, in which minimalist details make for maximum suspense, as the drama reconstructs the interrogation and detainment of a young female whistleblower |
| 248128 | David Stratton | The Australian | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-07-03T22:31:57.000Z | 2023-07-03 22:31:57 | It’s a troubling, unsettling and beautifully made production, all the more notable for being a debut feature that rigidly adheres to the actual recording that the FBI men made on the day that a brave young woman lost her freedom. |
| 248129 | Sandra Hall | Sydney Morning Herald | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-06-29T20:11:32.000Z | 2023-06-29 20:11:32 | Reality is a bizarre blend of the gripping and the banal -- a film in which politeness is used as a weapon and guile is disguised as embarrassment. |
| 248130 | Aaron Neuwirth | We Live Entertainment | Fresh | 6/10 | 2023-06-21T16:46:01.000Z | 2023-06-21 16:46:01 | Between Sweeney’s work as Reality and Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis’ efforts as FBI agents, pulling off what’s needed in this minimalist production is interesting to watch. |
| 248131 | Cain Noble-Davies | FILMINK (Australia) | Fresh | 16.5/20 | 2023-06-21T07:18:57.000Z | 2023-06-21 07:18:57 | … a highly unsettling look at the imbalance in power dynamics across bureaucratic and gender lines … |
| 248132 | Filipe Freitas | Always Good Movies | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-06-17T05:24:02.000Z | 2023-06-17 05:24:02 | Reality is well-made but depends almost entirely on the acting. And neither the lead nor the supporting actors let it down, providing merciless authenticity through crisp performances. |
| 248133 | Simon Miraudo | Movie Squad (RTRFM 92.1) | Fresh | 4.5/5 | 2023-06-16T01:10:08.000Z | 2023-06-16 01:10:08 | A fantastically compelling look at the banality (and occasional affability) of how power is wielded by the government, and the ordinary, flawed people who find themselves in its craw. |
| 248134 | Peter Gray | The AU Review | Fresh | 4.5/5 | 2023-06-15T08:13:19.000Z | 2023-06-15 08:13:19 | An exercise in the challenge of authority, Reality is a stranger-than-fiction experience bolstered by its central performance and masterful handling of both its horrific and darkly comedic mentality. |
| 248135 | Margot Harrison | Seven Days (VT) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-06-14T20:14:15.000Z | 2023-06-14 20:14:15 | Reality is a fascinating formal experiment -- a historical chamber drama in which all the dialogue is factual and all the poetic license happens between the lines. |
| 248136 | Whang Yee Ling | The Straits Times (Singapore) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-06-14T17:45:37.000Z | 2023-06-14 17:45:37 | Sweeney’s performance of incremental dread is stomach-churning. |
| 248137 | Soham Gadre | The Spool | Rotten | — | 2023-06-14T17:44:26.000Z | 2023-06-14 17:44:26 | Unfortunately, Reality is more concerned with getting the diction accurate rather than letting the actors fully embody their characters. |
| 248138 | Sarah Manvel | Critic's Notebook | Fresh | — | 2023-06-14T06:51:33.000Z | 2023-06-14 06:51:33 | This movie, which challenges that injustice simply by existing, is a very good one. But if it had thought more about its own point and allowed itself some freedom with the precise language used, it would have done much better at telling its truth. |
| 248139 | Felix Vasquez Jr. | Cinema Crazed | Fresh | — | 2023-06-10T11:48:01.000Z | 2023-06-10 11:48:01 | A provocative drama thriller, one that will surely leave audiences with a bad taste in their mouths... |
| 248140 | Dennis Schwartz | Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews | Fresh | A- | 2023-06-09T00:15:58.000Z | 2023-06-09 00:15:58 | Upsetting whistleblower political film. |
| 248141 | Alexa Dalby | Dog and Wolf | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-06-08T21:32:21.000Z | 2023-06-08 21:32:21 | Tina Satter has turned her stage play Is This a Room into a gripping film and stunning debut. |
| 248142 | David Klion | The New Republic | Fresh | — | 2023-06-08T21:31:36.000Z | 2023-06-08 21:31:36 | Reality is undeniably compelling cinema, and it raises some implicit questions about what qualities we do and don’t value in public servants. |
| 248143 | Robert Levin | Newsday | Rotten | 2.5/4 | 2023-06-08T10:16:22.000Z | 2023-06-08 10:16:22 | It's a fascinating movie in many respects, even if it doesn't quite work. |
| 248144 | Manuel Betancourt | FilmWeek (LAist) | Fresh | — | 2023-06-06T22:41:27.000Z | 2023-06-06 22:41:27 | Sweeney is fantastic... The way that she slowly unravels is just mesmerizing. |
| 248145 | Peter Martin | ScreenAnarchy | Fresh | — | 2023-06-06T19:02:57.000Z | 2023-06-06 19:02:57 | Serves as a showcase for the persuasive talents of the three lead actors, creating characters who respond and change subtly, with minute adjustments in their attitude and temperament. |
| 248146 | Natasha Alvar | Cultured Vultures | Fresh | 8/10 | 2023-06-06T15:35:53.000Z | 2023-06-06 15:35:53 | Tina Satter's Reality is a masterful excursion into a real life event, with captivating performances that will leave you enthralled and on the edge of your seat. |
| 248147 | Graham Fuller | The Arts Desk | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-06-05T21:00:57.000Z | 2023-06-05 21:00:57 | Sydney Sweeney’s face in the harrowing docudrama Reality is an ever-evolving map, its contours and pallor altering as it gradually dawns on her character... that her conscience has put paid to her freedom for the foreseeable future. |
| 248148 | Tom Shone | Sunday Times (UK) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-06-05T19:15:15.000Z | 2023-06-05 19:15:15 | The film’s mixture of threat, absurdism and staccato ambience is like vintage Pinter. |
| 248149 | Erik Childress | Movie Madness Podcast | Fresh | 4/4 | 2023-06-05T12:49:51.000Z | 2023-06-05 12:49:51 | An unnerving, unique and upsetting procedural that has Sydney Sweeney doing the best work of her career to date. An astounding and important debut from Tina Satter. |
| 248150 | Rudie Obias | Battle Royale With Cheese | Fresh | — | 2023-06-05T02:10:12.000Z | 2023-06-05 02:10:12 | While the politics of the film might divide audiences, Reality breaks through it with humanity, tension, and the search for the truth. |
| 248151 | Mark Kermode | Observer (UK) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-06-04T23:08:49.000Z | 2023-06-04 23:08:49 | A stranger-than-fiction reminder of the precarious times in which we live, and of what happens when individuals challenge authorities less troubled by truth than retribution. |
| 248152 | Steven Prokopy | Third Coast Review | Fresh | 3.5/4 | 2023-06-04T19:20:40.000Z | 2023-06-04 19:20:40 | Watching Reality is not like watching your typical film; it’s an experience, an exercise in patience that absolutely pays off. |
| 248153 | Sara Clements | Pajiba | Fresh | — | 2023-06-04T18:30:21.000Z | 2023-06-04 18:30:21 | It can be difficult to create a film to engage the masses that is set in only one location and very dialogue-heavy, but Sweeney is acting with a capital A, so it’s not hard for her to keep the audience’s undivided attention. |
| 248154 | Sarah Marrs | Lainey Gossip | Fresh | — | 2023-06-03T19:44:59.000Z | 2023-06-03 19:44:59 | Reality isn’t a docudrama, it’s a cautionary tale. |
| 248155 | Dmitry Samarov | Chicago Reader | Fresh | — | 2023-06-03T00:28:43.000Z | 2023-06-03 00:28:43 | By presenting testimony without editorializing, the film becomes a searing indictment of a country that routinely punishes low-level true believers while rewarding traitors and opportunists up the food chain for their treachery. |
| 248156 | Harry Guerin | RTÉ (Ireland) | Fresh | 5/5 | 2023-06-02T18:54:48.000Z | 2023-06-02 18:54:48 | Make sure to put it on your watchlist, right at the top. |
| 248157 | Dulcie Pearce | The Sun (UK) | Rotten | 3/5 | 2023-06-02T18:26:45.000Z | 2023-06-02 18:26:45 | With little background knowledge provided for anyone outside the US, it becomes tricky to absorb or feel connected to the true horror of this reality. |
| 248158 | Kevin Maher | The Times (UK) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-06-02T17:59:35.000Z | 2023-06-02 17:59:35 | Sweeney’s phenomenal performance of hidden guilt under pressure is the film’s secret weapon. |
| 248159 | Andy Lea | Daily Express (UK) | Rotten | — | 2023-06-02T16:03:14.000Z | 2023-06-02 16:03:14 | The truth is a whole lot stranger than fiction in this tense but seemingly banal drama set almost entirely in asuburban bungalow. |
| 248160 | Danny Leigh | Financial Times | Fresh | 5/5 | 2023-06-02T15:07:38.000Z | 2023-06-02 15:07:38 | It is a stark X-ray of state power both deeply tied to the present moment and the timeless dread of the knock at the door. |
| 248161 | Emily Breen | HeyUGuys | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-06-02T14:01:04.000Z | 2023-06-02 14:01:04 | Reality is a masterclass in filmmaking from Tina Satter, compounded by a sterling lead performance from Sydney Sweeney. |
| 248162 | Linda Marric | The Jewish Chronicle | Fresh | 5/5 | 2023-06-02T13:22:03.000Z | 2023-06-02 13:22:03 | While realism underpins this truly extraordinary production throughout, there remains plenty of suspense, drama and unbridled angst. |
| 248163 | Ian Sandwell | Digital Spy | Fresh | 5/5 | 2023-06-02T11:24:50.000Z | 2023-06-02 11:24:50 | We're not even halfway through the year, but Reality is such an absorbing and excellently-crafted watch that you know you've seen one of the best movies of the year. |
| 248164 | Charlotte O'Sullivan | London Evening Standard | Fresh | 5/5 | 2023-06-01T23:52:19.000Z | 2023-06-01 23:52:19 | ... An art-house experiment that wants to attract all kinds of viewers, not just the usual (liberal) suspects. |
| 248165 | Josh Bell | The Inlander (Spokane, WA) | Rotten | 2/4 | 2023-06-01T20:44:52.000Z | 2023-06-01 20:44:52 | More a piece of performance art than a narrative film, director and co-writer Tina Satter's adaptation of her 2019 stage play is conceptually intriguing but dramatically detached. |
| 248166 | David Fear | Rolling Stone | Fresh | — | 2023-06-01T19:34:17.000Z | 2023-06-01 19:34:17 | This feels like the first time [Sydney Sweeney]’s had to really step up and own a role that carries a film, and she ends up being the X factor that separates Reality from true-crime karaoke. Sweeney has finally got her serious-actor moment and delivered. |
| 248167 | Lindsey Bahr | Associated Press | Fresh | 3/4 | 2023-06-01T19:14:52.000Z | 2023-06-01 19:14:52 | It’s a true triumph of storytelling and performance and a reminder that films don’t need to be flashy or big to be great. |
| 248168 | Deborah Ross | The Spectator | Fresh | — | 2023-06-01T18:47:56.000Z | 2023-06-01 18:47:56 | Sattar’s deliberate spareness gives this an unnerving, eerie quality while Sweeney’s performance is truly phenomenal. She plays Winner’s mounting dread and anxiety in a way that’s so authentic it will possess you. |
| 248169 | Amy Nicholson | New York Times | Fresh | — | 2023-06-01T02:14:55.000Z | 2023-06-01 02:14:55 | The banality is chilling. |
| 248170 | Emma Vine | Tell-Tale TV | Fresh | 3.75/5 | 2023-05-31T20:46:46.000Z | 2023-05-31 20:46:46 | With a stellar acting trio and mindful camera work, Reality cleverly delivers the material. |
| 248171 | John Serba | Decider | Fresh | — | 2023-05-31T18:45:29.000Z | 2023-05-31 18:45:29 | By honing in on the unspoken details of this specific moment in U.S. history, this stripped-down, nearly real-time, almost single-location drama erupts with implications – political, personal, procedural. |
| 248172 | Brian Lloyd | entertainment.ie | Fresh | 3.5/5 | 2023-05-31T16:00:44.000Z | 2023-05-31 16:00:44 | At a time when the truth seems like it's being assaulted daily and narrative is spoonfed to audiences, 'Reality' trusts those who watch it to parse fact from fiction and assess what it's been shown. |
| 248173 | Alistair Harkness | Scotsman | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-05-30T22:11:54.000Z | 2023-05-30 22:11:54 | Satter finds plenty of inspiration in the limitations imposed on her by the found-footage nature of the script. |
| 248174 | Brian Lowry | CNN.com | Fresh | — | 2023-05-30T21:30:18.000Z | 2023-05-30 21:30:18 | Reality might have benefited from widening the play’s tight, almost-claustrophobic focus a little bit more for this medium, but what’s there remains stark and compelling, with Sweeney’s discomfort speaking volumes. |
| 248175 | Alissa Wilkinson | Vox | Fresh | — | 2023-05-30T21:02:01.000Z | 2023-05-30 21:02:01 | Reality is, quite literally, the kind of movie where people just talk the whole time. But that’s precisely why it works. |
| 248176 | Ryan Gilbey | New Statesman | Fresh | — | 2023-05-30T18:53:59.000Z | 2023-05-30 18:53:59 | The film is at its most straightforwardly chilling in its reliance on the spoken word -- and its forensic skill in reading between the lines. |
| 248177 | Robert Abele | Los Angeles Times | Fresh | — | 2023-05-30T17:36:13.000Z | 2023-05-30 17:36:13 | A pungently atmospheric, beat-by-beat account of someone losing their freedom over the course of an hour and change... |
| 248178 | Owen Vince | In Review Online | Fresh | — | 2023-05-30T17:29:43.000Z | 2023-05-30 17:29:43 | With Reality, Satter draws very close to a particular aesthetics of malignant banality, honing in on the blandly precise figurations of the security state. |
| 248179 | Ann Hornaday | Washington Post | Fresh | 4/4 | 2023-05-30T17:24:19.000Z | 2023-05-30 17:24:19 | This tense, mesmerizingly paced drama unfolds with a steady drip of mundane moments that gather walloping force as the minutes tick by. |
| 248180 | Iana Murray | Empire Magazine | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-05-30T16:44:13.000Z | 2023-05-30 16:44:13 | A beautifully understated performance from Sydney Sweeney, paired with stylistically minimalist filmmaking, make for a chilling, compelling chamber piece — finding the humanity underlying even the tensest of confrontations. |
| 248181 | Maria Lattila | WhyNow (UK) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-05-30T15:56:33.000Z | 2023-05-30 15:56:33 | Call it a docu-drama or just a drama, the meshing of both reality (no pun intended) and artistic licence here is fascinating, making Reality one of the most engrossing and awe-inspiring films of 2023. |
| 248182 | Alison Willmore | New York Magazine/Vulture | Fresh | — | 2023-05-30T10:17:41.000Z | 2023-05-30 10:17:41 | Reality is filled with the sickening tension of a thriller, but it really plays like a tragedy, given that we already know what happened to its subject next. |
| 248183 | Connor Petrey | Pop Culture Leftovers | Fresh | — | 2023-05-29T16:17:36.000Z | 2023-05-29 16:17:36 | Reality is a brilliant piece of filmmaking that attaches a visual to the legitimate dialogue from a riveting FBI investigation. - easily one of the best dramatic pieces of 2023 and an immediate reason to subscribe to MAX. |
| 248184 | Brianna Zigler | Paste Magazine | Rotten | 4.5/10 | 2023-05-29T14:06:36.000Z | 2023-05-29 14:06:36 | There’s a reason that Satter knew Winner’s transcript would succeed as a play, but she brings very little that’s new and exciting as a film director of that same narrative. |
| 248185 | Pat Brown | Slant Magazine | Fresh | — | 2023-05-28T17:09:32.000Z | 2023-05-28 17:09:32 | The film interrogates both the state of our world and the lines between fiction and document. |
| 248186 | Belen Edwards | Mashable | Fresh | — | 2023-05-27T11:51:13.000Z | 2023-05-27 11:51:13 | An extraordinary thriller that mines boatloads of tension from its own sparseness. |
| 248187 | Nick Schager | The Daily Beast | Fresh | — | 2023-05-27T01:15:24.000Z | 2023-05-27 01:15:24 | Though its real-life story ultimately proves a little too one-note, it makes up for its thinness with a powerhouse lead turn from Sydney Sweeney as a woman caught in a nerve-wracking mess of her own making. |
| 248188 | Sheila O'Malley | RogerEbert.com | Fresh | 3.5/4 | 2023-05-26T17:49:19.000Z | 2023-05-26 17:49:19 | An impressive and unnerving piece of work. |
| 248189 | Jared Mobarak | Hey, Have You Seen ...? | Fresh | 7/10 | 2023-05-26T13:46:58.000Z | 2023-05-26 13:46:58 | How much of that subterfuge is real and how much is inferred by Satter remains unknown, but that fact only adds to the intrigue. Everything is filtered through a prism of bias. |
| 248190 | Jordan Hoffman | TV Guide | Fresh | 8.9/10 | 2023-05-25T20:12:31.000Z | 2023-05-25 20:12:31 | Though purposefully small in its scope, this film is a terrific showcase for the 25-year-old Sydney Sweeney. |
| 248191 | Fico Cangiano | CineXpress | Fresh | 3/5 | 2023-05-25T18:56:50.000Z | 2023-05-25 18:56:50 | Sydney Sweeney is excellent in this gripping drama about a complex situation, full of alarming questions and escalating results. An impressive debut for writer/director Tina Satter. [Full review in Spanish] |
| 248192 | Graeme Guttmann | Screen Rant | Fresh | 3.5/5 | 2023-05-25T13:41:00.000Z | 2023-05-25 13:41:00 | Reality is a chilling & clinical look at the surveillance state & a fraught time for the US, with a transformative performance from Sweeney. |
| 248193 | Chris Evangelista | Slashfilm | Fresh | 9/10 | 2023-05-22T14:04:30.000Z | 2023-05-22 14:04:30 | Here is a film that's essentially three people having a long conversation in a bare, dirty room, and I was on the edge of my seat nearly the entire time. |
| 248194 | Rich Cline | Shadows on the Wall | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-05-09T18:24:12.000Z | 2023-05-09 18:24:12 | It's startlingly gripping, churning with menace as complex characters reveal intricate details. Adapting her award-winning play, filmmaker Tina Satter inventively unearths bigger issues while taking the audience on a harrowing journey. |
| 248195 | Savina Petkova | AwardsWatch | Fresh | B | 2023-02-24T16:14:54.000Z | 2023-02-24 16:14:54 | Sydney Sweeney is marvelous and dedicated to an empathetic portrayal of a woman who was not lauded as a whistleblower of the same proportion as other male counterparts have been. |
| 248196 | Peter Bradshaw | Guardian | Fresh | 5/5 | 2023-02-24T14:35:04.000Z | 2023-02-24 14:35:04 | This, the film says, is what it really feels like to be on the receiving end of the law in a case like this: a calm, professional, technocratic but relentless display of overwhelming power. |
| 248197 | David Rooney | The Hollywood Reporter | Fresh | — | 2023-02-22T11:27:43.000Z | 2023-02-22 11:27:43 | While the action unfolds over less than two hours in a semblance of real time, the spiral of tragedy feels full-bodied, no matter where you stand on Winner’s actions. |
| 248198 | Jessica Kiang | Variety | Fresh | — | 2023-02-22T11:24:21.000Z | 2023-02-22 11:24:21 | Reality can be stranger than fiction, but “Reality” fuses the two to become stranger, and more riveting, still. |
| 248199 | Charles Bramesco | The Playlist | Fresh | B+ | 2023-02-22T11:23:38.000Z | 2023-02-22 11:23:38 | Ultimately, it’s Sweeney’s show, and she excels in locating small crannies of tacit detail within these offhanded lines. |
| 248200 | Tim Robey | Daily Telegraph (UK) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-02-22T11:22:22.000Z | 2023-02-22 11:22:22 | Satter mounts Winner’s story as non-portentously as possible; indeed, it’s full of awkward humanity, quizzical compassion, and Feds fussing clumsily over what to do with her pets. |
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