59
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlChallenging viewers this way — denying clean resolutions, chucking out the urgent drama of the first hour of movie — is bound to alienate some audiences. But from its arresting first scenes, Phang's film is as much about why? as it is what next?
- 75San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleThe Bay Area filmmaker’s Sundance Prize-winning film achieves much on a relatively meager budget (it has an impressive futuristic visual design), and the last half hour is so irresistibly creepy that it’s sure to invoke discussion after the screening.
- 70The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisIt’s a kick to see how effectively Ms. Phang has created the future on a shoestring even if she hasn’t yet figured out how to turn all her smart ideas into a fully realized feature.
- 67The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerThe A.V. ClubJesse HassengerAs in a lot of good sci-fi, the movie is set in a particular world, but driven by the characters that inhabit it.
- 60The DissolveMike D'AngeloThe DissolveMike D'AngeloThe ideas are admirably heady, and Phang, making just her second feature (after 2008’s little-seen Half-Life), demonstrates a sure hand with both her imaginative milieu and her cast.
- 60VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyAdvantageous presents an offbeat, intimate dystopian vision that is strongly intriguing for a while. But just when it should shift from a focus on ideas to emotional involvement, the pic instead grows slower and less engaging.
- This is dark stuff, but a striking humanity shines through.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinThe Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinIt’s no surprise to learn this was developed from a short film; it has a short’s fragmented, tone-poem quality, but not the sustained coherence of a feature.
- 38Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSlant MagazineDiego SemereneThe dialogue is so disaffected it's as if humans were replicants even before going through the aforementioned twin-making procedure.