65
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula NechakSeattle Post-IntelligencerPaula NechakIt's compelling, poetic, rebellious, funny and one of the few movies that feels like it's been culled from another time and place yet broodingly bends modern societal taboos.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasPlays out the notion of the forces of light being inexorably drawn to those of darkness, of the older generation betraying the younger and maybe even an indictment of European indifference to the Balkans' agony.
- 80Film.comRobert HortonFilm.comRobert HortonI'm not sure how elaborately I could defend Pola X, but I loved watching it.
- 80L.A. WeeklyManohla DargisL.A. WeeklyManohla DargisThe film is at once breathtaking and ridiculous, and it's the tension between these two extremes, as well as Carax's own intoxicating style, that makes it essential viewing.
- 70Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanThis moody, rapturous adaptation of Pierre, Herman Melville's gothic follow-up to "Moby Dick," is never less than seriously romantic.
- 63San Francisco ExaminerWesley MorrisSan Francisco ExaminerWesley MorrisA less confrontational, though positively gushing modernization of "Pierre, or the Ambiguities."
- 60Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumCarax has a wonderful cinematic eye and a personal feeling for editing rhythms, and his sense of overripeness and excess virtually defines him.
- 50VarietyDerek ElleyVarietyDerek ElleyAn often intriguing, sometimes hypnotic work, but one that quickly starts to unravel in the final hour as it becomes clear there’s not much beneath the emperor’s clothes.
- 50Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittCarax's cinematic imagination makes it worth viewing by movie buffs with a sense of adventure and a tolerance for explicit sex.
- 25San Francisco ChroniclePeter StackSan Francisco ChroniclePeter StackCarax, with Pola X, has become a parody of himself with a self-indulgent, overreaching style that many viewers will find a struggle to watch -- provided they can contain their contempt for pretentiousness.