37 Seconds tells a somewhat conventional story with exceptional grace and empathy, challenging harmful stereotypes along the way.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 17, 2024

37 Seconds is a film that shows how exploring one’s physical desires can lead to liberation and acceptance.

Full Review | Feb 17, 2023

Mei Kayama [gives] an authentic and genuinely touching performance.

Full Review | Jan 9, 2021

It is a very authentic drama about the stages of maturity of a disabled woman. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 7, 2020

This movie is recommended for anyone who wants to discover a story about unique people who experience an unpredictable and poignant turn of events.

Full Review | Jul 13, 2020

Writer-director Hikari's feature debut looks at the life of a disabled person with a view so raw and honest that it hurts to watch. But there is a lot of sweetness too, driven in large part by Kayama's Yuma.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 29, 2020

It's a rare film that understands disability as a complex part of its character's understanding of themselves and the world around them, rather than a categorization to be swiftly demonized or fetishize.

Full Review | Mar 6, 2020

Hikari has left us with a fresh, vibrant, extraordinary film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 14, 2020

37 Seconds is as entertaining as it is important.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Feb 11, 2020

37 Seconds is overall a winning character study about a woman coming of age way later than she probably should.

Full Review | Feb 1, 2020

"37 Seconds" is deceptively delicate and quietly tough. Not unlike its protagonist.

Full Review | Jan 31, 2020

This isn't the anodyne, awards-baiting film about disability that viewers might be used to; instead, Hikari's feature debut is sensitive and empathetic, showing a young woman who is more than just her cerebral palsy.

Full Review | Jan 31, 2020

A person with a disability is given agency in a movie, and we see how she can manifest the kind of life for herself that she wants. It's about time.

Full Review | Oct 22, 2019

A refreshingly unbiased look at a real heroine.

Full Review | Sep 17, 2019

[A]n insightful and moving look at a young disabled artist's coming of age.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 8, 2019

Eventually, though, the film loses confidence in itself, overloading its last third with needless family-secret twists and one especially unnecessary travelogue denouement.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 7, 2019

A heartwarming, special little movie...

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 7, 2019

Even the film's title implies that the thirty-seven seconds for which Yuma did not breathe when she was born define her entire story. We learn little about Yuma that does not relate to her disability.

Full Review | Mar 12, 2019