"Writer-director Kassovitz's second film won him the Best Director award at Cannes, and deservedly so."
Kevin Maynard, Time Out NY
"Hate is a harsh Spike Lee-like look at life in the immigrant ghettos around Paris."
Alan Riding, The New York Times
"La Haine is a stunning break-through in a new wave of Gallic youth flicks." "Surprisingly, the film is funny, too, a
spare nugget of black-and-white grace that recalls the '60's French new wave even as it hits the bull's-eye of
contemporary teen angst."
Elizabeth Pincus, Harper's Bazaar
"La Haine is made with vibrancy and urgency."
"La Haine proves that the issues of contemporary alienated you are, indeed, universal."
"This is a movie directed with emotional potency."
"Vincent Cassal gives a striking performance."
Barbara Siegel, Siegel Entertainment Syndicate
"Superbly acted, tautly directed and gives insight into a Paris light years beyond romantic walks on the Seine, cafe
cremes et croquee monsieurs and le Musee D'Oraay."
Hariette Surovell, Cover Magazine
"Artistically alive at every second."
Donald Lyons, Film Comment
"3 1/2 stars"
"A movie about youth written and directed with maturity, Hate is a movie rich in texture."
"There is not a movie of its kind that ocmes anywhere near the penetrating power of Hate."
"The acting is utterly natural and awesomely effective."
"Mathieu Kassovitz has made a fearsome film."
Scott Siegel, WNEW-FM/Siegel Entertainment Syndicate
Winner: Best Picture & Best Director (Mathieu Kassovitz) Lumieres de Paris Awards
"Brilliantly fluid."
"Hate has a hyperreal grittiness. The movie looks great and it's fantastically energetic."
"A movie of undeniable impact."
J. Hoberman, Village Voice
"It's one of the most stunningly photographed, powerful and provocative works in recent memory."
"It all fuels the narrative's cumulative power, ultimately escalating in a finale that will turn the strongest viewer's knees to
jelly."
"It's relentlessly well-executed and destined for praise by generations to come."
Larry Worth, New York Post
"This film is a major step ahead in his strong and still new career."
Caryn James, The New York Times
"Hate has a tension and forward momentum that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout."
"A powerful piece of sociopolitical filmmaking, and Kassovitz has established himself as the leading voice of the new
consciousness in French film."
Jack Mathews, New York Newsday
"Political cinema at its best: uncompromising, explosive, and stingingly topical."
Dennis Lim, Interviewv
"Energetically directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, and shot in lustrous black-and-white, the film goes exactly where one
would expect, but has a nervous edge and technical ingenuity."
Matt Langdon, FilmThreatv
"The performances are as white hot as the subject matter, Cassal is especially adept at locating the rage that comes with
helplessness." "Prepare to be jolted by the intensity that writer, director and co-editor Mathieu Kassovitz brings to a plot
that uncoils in one agonizing 24-hour period."
"The film is a triumph for Kassovitz. He achieves a depth of passion and insight in Hate. In the urgent spirit of his film,
Kassovitz comes right at you."
Prepare to be jolted. The film is a triumph for Kassovitz, with performances that are as white hot as the subject matter.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"Mathieu Kassovitz is very talented."
"The movie capture the moody recklessness, the volatile, offhand brutality and loyalty of the 'hood, French-style."
"The movie is powerful."
David Denby, New York
"A powerful drama."
"Hate recalls the gritty, virtuoso storytelling of the young Martin Scorsese."
Kathy Heintzelmann, US Magazine
"Kassovitz has learned how to portray ghetto dwellers by watching Scorsese and Spike Lee; and at some moments, I
believe, he's outdone his teacher's recent efforts."
"Kassovitz offers the audience two kinds of buoyancy: the energy of his pow-in-your-face direction, and the gaiety of
invention of the dialogue." "Hate is a bright, overeager kid of a motion picture, given to posing and speed-rapping, but at
heart terribly sincere. I recommend making its acquaintance."
Stuart Klawans, The Nation
"Hate is raw, even grim face but it is never less than compelling storytelling."
Marshall Fine, Gannett Suburban Newspapers
"Razor sharp. Compelling character studies."
Rod Dreher, Miami Sun-Sentinel
"Draws its strength from its unwavering, unapologetic focus."
"Stylistically, Hate is something to behold."
"What you remember most about Hate isn't its technique, but its powerhouse emotional punch: It's a stunner."
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
"Funny, scabrous, and endlessly vital, Hate is an instant classic -- one of the best movies ever made about teens and
cities, and the fierce excitement they inspire in one another."
"Hate is shot in hard, glistening black-and-white, and included some of the most evocative nighttown poetry since the
French New Wave."
"Throughout, Kassovitz's camera is urgent, questing, responsive to every aspiration and dread firing in the synapses of
his young characters."
"At this point, there's nowhere Mathieu Kassovitz's talent can't go."
Richard T. Jameson, Starwave's "Mr. Showbiz"
