EDITORIAL OFFICE

• There are hints of cult activity culminating in a sequence that wouldn’t look out of place cut into an Ari Aster movie.

• It’s perhaps best viewed as a complicated elegy for the country’s potential, a surrealist expression of mourning for an endangered worldview based on faith in the value of truth.

• The Editorial Office captures the feeling of being trapped in an absurdist cycle of corruption, where there is no possibility of a satisfying cathartic moment of victory, merely an endless struggle in which all sense of meaning has been eroded.

By Catherine Bray

• Roman Bondarchuk's latest is a funny, angry, and bold call to action for Ukraine and its people.

• Exceptionally clever and bleakly funny The Editorial Office.

• Carrying the wearied demeanour of an Aki Kaurismaki character, the perfectly pitched, reserved performance by first-time actor Bahnenko carries us through the picture’s enjoyably winding narrative.

• The slightly heightened, sardonic, and delightfully absurdist tone of The Editorial Office.

By Kevin Jagernauth

• The Editorial Office remains sincere by not showing ways out that are actually unattainable.

• The film shows a country of contradictions that is worth denouncing with brutal scurrility and at the same time worth defending.

By Stephann Ahren

• I was captivated by its stark contrast between the (once) peaceful landscapes of Southern Ukraine and the brewing storms of modern questions.

• Director Roman Bondarchuk crafts a narrative that grips your heart and doesn't let go.

• THE EDITORIAL OFFICE transcends the film medium to become a powerful commentary on contemporary life, a salute to the resilient spirit of Ukraine, and an invitation to global viewers to ponder the eternal questions of truth, justice, and identity.

By Chris Jones (US)

• Roman Bondarchuk laughs, and his audience laughs with him, in the face of the utter collection of absurdity and tragedy the society he lives in has become.

• The opening shot of The Editorial Office immediately sets the tone of the film, full of dry sarcastic humour.

• For an impressively long period of time, each scene of The Editorial Office embodies its wonderful concept in the narration, the visuals, or both.

By Erwan Desbois

• Returning to the deep south of his native Ukraine, Roman Bondarchuk creates a smart, often outlandish but carefully observed reflection on the local media.

• The symbolism of the Russian war against Ukraine and its media spin-doctoring is rather on the nose.

• The Editorial Office is a strange beast shifting between curious, pointed satire and peculiar, fantastical sequences.

By Susanne Gottlieb

• The Editorial Office (Redaktsiya) is an absurd satire drenched in reality, acting both as a snapshot of a country on the brink of change and as a warning of a not-so-distant future.

• The Editorial Office certainly has a lot in store for you, as writer-director Roman Bondarchuk and co-writers Dar'ya Averchenko and Alla Tyutyunnik give us a tale that's, at the same time, unapologetically absurd and incredibly relatable.

• And now that the war is ongoing, the Oleshky Sands are occupied, and most of the region has been destroyed, The Editorial Office assumes even more meaning — a bittersweet quality that can be perceived in every single, gorgeous shot.

By Serena Seghedoni

• The Editorial Office is a satire composed of a variety of bizarre witticisms that capture the gray reality of Ukraine and the world.

• While the scenes depicting all this rottenness are irreverent, they also feel very real. This authenticity is made possible by Bondarchuk's fixation on using real characters: the film uses non-professional actors with real experience in their respective film roles.

• The director effectively uses copious amounts of dry humor to lighten the load of negativity involved in telling this story.

• The Editorial Office highlights the value of resisting and raising your voice, of not giving in and joining the chaos that is killing us.

By Ricardo Gallegos

• 'Fake. That’s our reality,' says a journalist, summing up the tension at the heart of this absurdist comedy drama. The Editorial Office is, indeed, a place where stories are not only created but bought and paid for and their relationship to reality is optional.

• Even Kafkaesque ideas are subject to chaos.

• Beneath the humour, there are plenty of serious points being made about everything… the strength of the direction holds things together.

By Amber Wilkinson

• It seems grotesque and mocking, but today the reality is suspiciously similar to what is shown here. And not only in these countries.

• Perhaps what most connects THE EDITORIAL OFFICE to the current Ukrainian situation is the distortion of reality through fake news and the cross-interests that become visible in the most complex political circumstances.

• What is interesting about the film is that it does not offer an idyllic or victimized picture of the country or its inhabitants.

• Bondarchuk has an acid and quite critical look at the reality that surrounds him.

By Diego Lerer

• Roman Bondarchuk's journalism satire The Editorial Office (2024) is filled with grimfunny moments like these, tackling the concept of fake news and its relation to institutional corruption while fully dialing up the comic absurdity.

• Bondarchuk treads a careful line between outright satire — and expertly staged comedy beats and lesson time.

• It's remarkable that the Ukrainian state funds such a self-reflective film in the middle of a war.

By Redmond Bacon

• This is a film that is juggling a lot of balls thematically, making it one of the richest and most thoughtful films of the year.

• The film looks great, and it was the images that made me fall in love with it.

• It's a trip that doesn't go as we expect and as such opens our mind up to unexpected possibilities.

• This is a hell of a film and a hell of a ride. You really should see this. »

By Steve Kopian

• Roman Bondarchuk's film offers a tragic story about people who lost everything because of an unjust power system and media distortions, and then it transitions into a surprisingly hilarious political satire-comedy.

• The Editorial Office (Redaktsiya) presents a complex story, enigmatic in its storytelling but also bizarre in context, and serves as a shaken outcry on the manipulation of news within the country, amidst the war.

• There will be many characters coming and going, but Bondarchuk ensures they are all worth following. »

By Abdul Latif

• It is a black comedy in its symbolic and surreal satire...

• This is the question around which the film revolves: what does it take to live, not to drown in a world eaten alive by corruption?

By Ilaria Falcone

• Falling somewhere between Aki Kaurismaki and any given episode of Barry in terms of its comic sensibilities…

• The director, [...], impressively never loses the thread of tracing the desecration of a free press to a greater unraveling of society, observing how a certain order is preserved out of long-ingrained traditions and image preservation but without accountability, the most shameless have been allowed to run amok...

By Stephen Saito

• The Editorial Office creates a witty and bizarre media and political satire.

• The film's serious subject matter is lightened up with funny moments. »

• If you fancy a bizarre insight into the Ukrainian media world, you should not miss Editorial Office.

By Lysann Leyh

• In keeping with Bondarchuk’s favored artistic approach, The Editorial Office is definitely a strange bird.

• Bondarchuk hits on the same endless propaganda machine in an era less interested in truth than an ongoing obsession with fluctuating optics.

• Bondarchuk's clearest, most crystallized statement is bluntly administered when Yura is informed, "No one gives a shit about facts."

• The Editor's Office at one point could have been classified as science fiction. »

• As of now, it’s a film which feels like a nightmare we don’t have the privileged distance of waking from yet. »

By Nicolas Bell

• Like these editorial offices (to translate the international title), this film navigates a curious in-between, straddling the line between paranoid tension and disillusioned comedy with surreal details.

• It's mainly between the lines, in its sense of detail, that The Editorial Office finds a mischievous success.

By Gregory Coutaut

• Our Groundhog Day is the endless corruption that smothers truth and meaning.

• The Editorial Office rings the alarm in vibrant, surreal brushstrokes, using gallows humor and magic realism to chronicle a society stretched to the point of unraveling.

• Roman Bondarchuk has crafted a stunningly audacious sophomore effort here undeniably urgent.

• This poetic protest against tyranny's advance heralds a bold new cinematic voice while cautioning us all to vigilance against distortions of truth.

By Shahrbanoo Golmohamadi

• The editorial office takes the form of a satire on the falsity of the news and the lack of independence of the media.

• The critical look, sprinkled with moments of humor, is clearly inspired by personal experiences that draw a society wrapped in a repetitive circle of falsified realities, represented by the groundhog that hides from humans.

• The editorial office finds its best moments in this representation through general shots in which what happens in the background (the smoke, the military presence...) seems more relevant than what happens in the foreground.

By Miguel A. Reina

• Hope the future of Ukrainian cinema looks like The Editorial Office.

• The Editorial Office feature is an acidic, jetblack comedy that takes aim at the fourth estate of Ukraine and the endless black hole of misinformation, clickbait and sensationalism that the internet has forced upon us.

• The staging highlights the filmmaker’s satirical points but also serves to provide its own excellent visual gags.

• Bondarchuk delivers that polemic with wit and grace.

By Fedor Tot