[1] Inspired by actual events, a 14-year-old Cambodian boy becomes a victim of human trafficking when he is enslaved on a Thai fishing trawler.

[2] Critic Paul O'Callaghan assessed the film as a "terse minimalist thriller" about slavery in southeast Asia.

[3] Screen Daily's Sarah Ward credited Heng with "a captivating lead" with "a rawness to his performance".

The website's critical consensus states: "Grueling but powerful, Buoyancy finds grim urgency in its portrayal of a young man's horrific captivity and fight for human dignity".

[5] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 77 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".