Skies of Lebanon is a visually magnificent film in which Chloe Mazlo truly demonstrates her strength as a visual storyteller. The cinematography is strikingly beautiful and full of detail – costumes, makeup, lighting, and settings perfectly recreate the era. The editing is creative and at times downright magical. The film feels like a time capsule – Mazlo manages to capture an elusive era with precision and emotion. Aesthetically, it’s almost a sensory marvel. There’s an artistic playfulness throughout – theatrical setups, stop-motion animation, hand-painted backdrops – all contributing to a unique and highly creative form. It's clear Chloe Mazlo has a distinct vision. The film tells the story of Joseph, the first Lebanese man in space, and his Swiss partner Alice. But the storytelling sometimes has overly big, fast leaps that make it feel choppy. For example, it jumps from Alice and Joseph meeting in a café to suddenly being in a living room with an adult daughter. These transitions make the film feel episodic and occasionally hard to follow. Mazlo also walks a tough tightrope, blending parodic humor with the gravity of the Lebanese civil war. I think the aesthetic tone is hard to balance here – the civil war is far more complex than the film shows. It often reduces the conflict to images and moods rather than providing deeper understanding. As a result, the script feels too sparse and fragmented. The beautiful, original scenes don’t hold together as a truly strong whole. At the same time, it’s obvious Skies of Lebanon is Mazlo’s tribute to her own heritage – a kind of biopic dedicated to her Swiss grandmother who fell in love with Lebanon. There’s a tenderness and respect in that portrayal that feels genuine. But ultimately, the script doesn’t support the charming, playful form Mazlo wanted to create. The story feels thin in its attempt to be both artistic and serious at the same time. ⭐ Rating: 7/10 Production: 7/10 Cinematography: 10/10 (Magnificent visuals)

[AtlàntidaFF] The idyllic gaze of Alice's point of view is shown through the animation and the unreal backgrounds of Beirut. And it is this "wonderland" that is broken by the war, the cruel and violent reality that makes the staging also more realistic. A debut that uses the animation resources that were part of her short films to build an optimistic vision of human relationships despite the cruelty of war.

Imagine _My Life as a Zucchini_ as a war film. Finding poetry and charm in the Lebanese civil war (1970s) isn't an easy task, though Chloé Mazlo is able to pull it off with a mix of her talent as an artist and her eye for style. The magic gets a little diluted in the third act, but not enough to make the film fade completely.