79
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasAt bottom, Silent Light is less about faith than matters of the heart, and in Reygadas' hands, the ache is bone-deep.
- 90Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanThe results are extraordinary. As understated as it is, the movie is both deeply absurd and powerfully affecting.
- 90The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisThe film was written, directed and somehow willed into unlikely existence by the extravagantly talented Carlos Reygadas, whose immersion in this exotic world feels so deep and true that it seems like an act of faith.
- 88The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMuch of what happens in Silent Light can feel painstakingly mundane: milking cows, harvesting wheat, a long drive at night in and out of shadows. Yet throughout, there's a sense of something ominous impending, and while it remains gentle, the ending is genuinely startling.
- 88New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoAs is his custom, Reygadas uses a mostly nonprofessional cast; and, as expected, he draws remarkably realistic performances.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttReygadas has hitched his austere and protracted style to an allegorical tale of subtle strength and depth.
- 70SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirIt's amazingly beautiful and it tests your patience; both things are par for the course with Reygadas, After that, you've either surrendered to his idiosyncratic sense of rhythm, or you're out of there.
- 50VarietyVarietyReygadas' typically arresting widescreen visuals and the presence of non-pro actors speaking in German-derived Plautdietsch makes for an initially hypnotic combination, but the spell breaks its hold well before the end of the picture's inflated running time, signaling an endurance test for all but the most ascetic arthouse auds.
- 50Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe stab at sublimity-by-proxy doesn't take.
- 40New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinThis director is too calculating to hold our trust for long, and skepticism will kill transcendence every time.