55
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenPayback is nothing if not brave. It's a documentary attempt to give concrete shape to an abstract discussion, using the medium of film to transplant a nuanced thesis – on the concept of debt – from its natural home on the printed page.
- 67The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayPayback attempts something impressively difficult, but it succeeds primarily in its individual moments.
- 63Slant MagazineBill WeberSlant MagazineBill WeberThis documentary on the many forms of human debt, though often frustratingly broad, offers a path to balancing civilization's ledger with a hard-nosed brand of altruism.
- 60VarietyRob NelsonVarietyRob NelsonPayback is a rarefied conceptual documentary that will appeal to a limited but highly appreciative audience.
- 60Time OutTime OutWhile the movie occasionally stretches too far to maintain thematic coherence, its momentum is sustained by the urgency of its case studies, as well as the sense of outrage at the injustices perpetuated at the behest of powerful monetary interests and its striking imagery.
- 60NPRMark JenkinsNPRMark JenkinsUltimately, this intriguing but scattershot movie turns on the incompatibility of two worldviews - the corporate-financial vs. the environmental-spiritual.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceCinematic globe-trotting doesn't necessarily trump reading a good book, it turns out; then again, more movies should be burdened with the flaw of being too intellectually curious.
- 50The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottYou can't help feeling that the movie owed its subject - and its audience - a bit more.
- 50New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoAll are subjects worthy of discussion, but tackling them in one film disrupts the movie's momentum and shortchanges viewers. Baichwal could have devoted a single film to just BP's disgraceful behavior.
- Aesthetically, it's desultory. Talking-heads rants and ruminations are further stultified by the amateurish aesthetics. Visually, zooms, pans and filler moments enervate the message. Most annoying, the dour music grates throughout; its hollow grinding, we'd guess, is an attempt to impart profundity.