82
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanWhat's truly extraordinary about this movie--which strikes me on two viewings as Maddin's masterpiece--is that it not only plays like a dream but feels like one.
- 100New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami BernardIt's said to be an autobiography, but that pertains only in the loosest sense. It's a comedy. It's a 1920s silent movie. It is practically indescribable. And it is pure genius.
- 100Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittThere's a new visual idea every second, each teeming with energy, pitch-dark comedy, and inspired cinematic lunacy.
- 80The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasAbortion, incest, infidelity, revenge, and hockey collide at a fever pitch, juxtaposed with such frantic energy that they're pushed to the level of high comedy, funniest at its most dramatic.
- 80The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisThere is also something rather splendid about this extended-play peep show, as if Mr. Maddin had stumbled across a hitherto lost archive of cinema's less-than-innocent past. What makes all this nostalgia for a movie history that never happened is that, as is always the case with Mr. Maddin's work, it's executed with more love than irony and not a whit of derision.
- 70TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxOddly, once removed from the museum setting and strung together into an hourlong feature, it's Maddin's most cohesive narrative.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe results are always visually arresting, while the narrative, even by Maddin standards, is completely out in the ozone.
- 67Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula NechakSeattle Post-IntelligencerPaula NechakIf you're a fan of Maddin's expressionist style, you'll find the humor within. Everyone else will be scratching their heads, despite Maddin's extraordinary visual imagination.
- 60Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumThe overall feel is phantasmagoric--pitched, like most of Maddin's work, in the style of a half-remembered late silent feature or early talkie.