City of Dreams (2023)

Critics and audiences seem to have watched two different movies: City of Dreams drew a 14 on Metacritic, a split 53% on Rotten Tomatoes and a crowd that rated it far higher. It’s inspired by a true story. Jesús, a boy from Mexico played by Ari Lopez, has one dream, playing soccer for a living, until he’s trafficked into the United States and forced into labor in Los Angeles. Mohit Ramchandani wrote and directed it as his first feature, with Alfredo Castro, Paulina Gaitán, Renata Vaca, Diego Calva and Jason Patric around Lopez. The film’s purpose is plain and worthwhile: make you look at something most people never see. The critics who reviewed it were mostly unconvinced by how it gets there. A 5.4 because the subject deserves attention even when the filmmaking divides people. $667.91 says you think about Jesús and his soccer dream whenever you see kids kicking a ball around a park this week.

What works: It puts a rarely told kind of story on screen, and audiences responded to it far more warmly than critics did.

What doesn’t: Critics were largely unconvinced by the filmmaking, and a 14 on Metacritic is a hard number to argue with.

Who it’s for: Viewers who seek out issue-driven dramas and care more about what a film is saying than how polished it is.