The Macaluso Sisters

The film is about the slow-acting tragedy that is the passage of time, and its effect on relationships marred by regret and recrimination. But it starts in an un-self-consciously joyous register as five orphaned sisters, ranging in age from 5 to 19, prepare for a day at the beach. The day ends in a disaster. Dante’s sensitive screenplay and her fine army of actresses create a beautifully melancholic and often extraordinarily moving celebration of the frictive love that exists between sisters.

The skill with which director Emma Dante adapts her own play, marshaling three sets of actors playing the same characters at three different phases of life, and brings it soaring to fully cinematic life is remarkable.

Jessica Kiang, Variety