‘I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning’ Review: Clio Barnard Returns With a Clunky Social-Realist Weepie About Five Friends in Birmingham
Clio Barnard's film 'I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning' explores the lives of five friends in Birmingham as they navigate addiction and class struggles. The film, based on a script by Enda Walsh, attempts to blend emotional depth with social commentary but falls short in execution. Despite its ambitious themes, the narrative is described as overly sentimental and lacking coherence.
- ▪The film features a group of childhood friends in their thirties dealing with various personal struggles.
- ▪It premiered in Directors' Fortnight at Cannes and is based on a novel by Kieran Goddard.
- ▪The characters face issues such as addiction, housing precarity, and romantic betrayal.
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| Original publisher | Variety |
| Canonical URL | https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/i-see-buildings-fall-like-lightning-review-1236756631/ |
| Publication time | Fri, 22 May 2026 05:44:49 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-22T06:02:00.658Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-22T06:02:00.658Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
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Home Film Reviews May 21, 2026 10:44pm PT ‘I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning’ Review: Clio Barnard Returns With a Clunky Social-Realist Weepie About Five Friends in Birmingham Working from a script by Enda Walsh, the director of 'Ali & Ava’ and ‘The Arbor’ doesn’t give her characters much room to breathe in this overly plotted-out kitchen-sink melodrama about the struggles of a tight-knit group of 30-somethings. By Beatrice Loayza Plus Icon Beatrice Loayza Latest ‘A Girl’s Story’ Review: Judith Godrèche’s Assured Second Feature Tells a Bitter Tale of Sexual Initiation in 1950s France 4 days ago ‘Double Freedom’ Review: A Woodsman’s Simple Life Is Upended in Lisandro Alonso’s Beautifully Minimalistic Comment on Argentina’s Current Political Crisis 6 days ago ‘That Time I Got Reincarnated…
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