Synopsis
In 1980, Queens, New York, a young Jewish boy befriends a rebellious African-American classmate to the disapproval of his privileged family and begins to reckon with growing up in a world of inequality and prejudice.
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Cast
- Banks RepetaPaul Graff
- Anne HathawayEsther Graff
- Jeremy StrongIrving Graff
- Jaylin WebbJohnny Davis
- Anthony HopkinsAaron Rabinowitz
- Ryan SellTed Graff
- Andrew PolkMr. Turkeltaub
- Tovah FeldshuhMickey Graff
- Marcia HaufrechtGreat Aunt Ruth
- Teddy ColucaUncle Louis
Recommendations
- 91
IndieWire
It’s a story about the invisible fault lines of inequality, the moral compromises demanded by the American Dream, and the very practical ways in which remembering the past can be the only legitimate defense against the social forces that keep trying to repackage it as a vision of the future. - 83
The Playlist
Wistfully looking back on the past with a mix of affection for those we have lost, a melancholy yearning for the more tender age of innocence, and anxiety and regret for our trespasses, Gray’s stripped-down drama is a clear-eyed and emotionally intelligent work of great empathy. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
An unvarnished family snapshot that traces the seeds from which the artist evolved and the tough lessons about life’s unfairness that helped shape his character, this is a refreshingly understated drama whose gentleness makes it all the more bittersweet. - 80
The New Yorker
For all the film’s roiling action, its inner life is in little grace notes that open enormous vistas of time. - 78
Vanity Fair
Armageddon Time is a damning moral drama that is in thoughtful dialogue with complex matters of race and class. - 70
Los Angeles Times
A coming-of-age drama that feels both tenderly observed and acutely, rigorously pessimistic about its moment, as well as ours. - 70
Screen Daily
Exceedingly thoughtful and self-critical rather than lazily nostalgic, this well-acted coming-of-age tale can sometimes be predictable and muddled, but is steeped in the filmmaker’s sorrow for not recognising the ways in which he and those he loved contributed to an inequitable society that shows no signs of becoming less stratified. - 60
Total Film
It’s a sensitive, sweet, frequently heartbreaking trip through deeply personal history, but there’s no getting round the fact that Gray had what most might consider a fairly typical childhood.
