In this artwork, how is the Reception discussed?
The Telegraph gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, stating that "Akomfrah drives home his concerns with compelling clarity, sparking off chains of association that are grimly disturbing while offering a reminder of all the beauty that we stand to lose".The Guardian commented that "Akomfrah's overwhelming film evokes that very dilemma: our apparent helplessness as individuals in the face of rising sea levels and temperatures, droughts, and melting icecaps. Against a stirring contemporary classical soundtrack, his film begins by summoning up the momentum of industrial England, a world of mass production that signals - but is utterly unlike - the hyper-reality of contemporary globalism and digital interconnectivity".Time Out gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, stating "it can be frustrating being preached to when you’re in the choir, especially when Akomfrah isn’t offering any solutions or new comments. He’s just presenting all these horrifying visions of humanity’s impact on the planet. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe Akomfrah is just overwhelmed, helpless and shocked in the face of our idiocy, standing slack-jawed under the Anthropocene’s wave of effluent. Maybe this is the only way he can start to make sense of it all."City A.M. described it as a "wildly ambitious project is undertaken by documentary-maker and artist John Akomfrah, whose resulting video montage is at once mesmerizing, meditative and melancholy, a wild and sometimes overwhelming voyage through our lives on both a micro and macro scale." It went on to state that "It’s a wonderful piece of work, both uplifting and haunting, and a reminder that we all need to be better."
The Telegraph John Akomfrah City A.M. Time Out video The Guardian