Downbeat, ultimately tragic, but there's a wondrous, sad beauty here.
88
USA TodayMike Clark
USA TodayMike Clark
Ultimately grim, Liam is ripe in humanity --and even comedy.
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
What's left at the end is an emotionally restrained vision of harsh, impoverished lives, more thoughtful than affecting, and never less than gorgeous, but so unfocused it leaves only scattered impressions.
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
New York PostLou Lumenick
Director Frears, in a radical shift from "High Fidelity," again (as in "Dangerous Liaisons") shows he's a master of period detail and subtle storytelling -- and the performances couldn't be more on the money.
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Frears makes every note count for a lot in this beautifully gauged microcosm of big emotions expressed in small gestures.
While there are similarities to the hardscrabble saga of "Angela's Ashes," Frears' film avoids the mawkish pitfalls of Alan Parker's screen adaptation.
Though the film came out a year ago in the U.K., the timing here is unfortunate, and one has to wish that, like so many bigger productions, Liam could have migrated to a more-distant release date.
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Has some rapturously observant sequences concerning childhood.
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Handsomely mounted but disappointingly slight.
60
Village VoiceAmy Taubin
Village VoiceAmy Taubin
Acting is the strongest element in Stephen Frears's Liam.