Critical response
On Amazon Prime Video, the film has an approval rating of 98% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5/5. [12] Attitude magazine, reviewed His Hands (2019) calling, "It's testament to Blake and Shu's skill, direction, and cinematography that the film, which features absolutely no dialogue, manages to convey an incredible sense of mood and feeling throughout." [13]
Mark Gatiss, the producer of Netflix-BBC television series Dracula and Sherlock, reviewed His Hands as, "A beguilingly beautiful gem, Arron Blake and Darius Shu's His Hands defies easy analysis. Shot through with strange, homoerotic melancholy it's ravishing to look at and haunts the memory long after." [14] [15]
Film Threat praised His Hands as, "Beautifully well shot, exuding a mysterious atmosphere in each frame. The acting and editing are both excellent, and the story's refusal to hold the audience's hand is commendable" [16] while Unsettled Magazine reviewed His Hands as "a masterpiece built on suspense and appealing imagery." [17]
UK Film Review gave the film 4 out of 5 stating, "The performances are really strong, Blake presents a formidable on screen presence that is loaded with palpable vigour." and that the film "benefits from a richness in ambiguity in the storytelling and bold creativity in the filmmaking. The journey is nerve shatteringly entertaining and it has superb cinematic appeal." [18]
The Advocate magazine pointed out that, "the cinematography of His Hands offers an unnerving experience through dark, haunting images with no dialogue." [19]
Movie Buff gave the film 4 out of 5 stars praising it to be a modern silent film and writing, "the actors had to ‘show without telling’ and I felt as though they each had me gripping the edge of my chair throughout the film" and that "it is beautifully shot and looks at subject matter that is hotly debated at the moment." [20]
FilmInk called His Hands as, "cinema in its purest form, where the audience is meant to rely solely on visual and pictorial literacy to make heads or tails of any of it ...it is art as it should be." Vulture House describe His Hands as "a wonderful work of art ...Very much like a painting in a gallery" and that it, "masters the art of what is not seen." [21] Gscene Magazine said that, "His Hands presents us with images of torture, attraction, loneliness, ageism, androgyny and wherever else your fertile mind can take you to." [22] HeyUGuys gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and praised the film as "beautifully written" and "the editing and directing are brilliant ... this independent film has clearly used every penny wisely." [23]
Indie Short Mag gave the film 5 out of 5 stars with excellence in all areas in direction, cinematography, screenplay, music and editing as it "... blur lines between eroticism and violence." [24] Viddy Well praised the film as "...cleanly composed, erotically charged, and ripe with atmosphere and oddity that you can't help but lean into it." Viddy Well also complimented Blake and Shu's direction as "...taut and controlled, with notes of Nicolas Winding Refn, David Lynch, Denis Villeneuve, and David Fincher, and all of their visuals play directly into the film's theme...His Hands is a thought-provoking short that's masterfully erected." [25]
Blake and Shu made their live television appearance in an interview on London Live after the success of Tribeca Film Festival. [26]
