Critic Reviews
70
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
19(68%)
mixed
9(32%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 28 Critic Reviews
100
Miller shows terrific talent as a director with a sharp eye for images, a keen ear for dialogue, and a refreshing willingness to take storytelling risks.
100
A no-frills docu-Dogma plainness, yet Miller lingers on invisible, nearly psychic nuances, leaping into digressions of memory and desire. She boxes these women's souls right open for us.
90
The cumulative effect is that of watching misspent lives disintegrate before your eyes. Ms. Miller's canny accomplishment is a triumph, giving the material weight and heart. This is one of the finest pictures of the year.
90
Everything and everyone is observed sharply, succinctly and indelibly.
88
The actors are gifted at establishing character with just a few well-chosen strokes (as a short story writer must also be able to do). We learn as much about each of these women in half an hour as we learn about most movie characters in two hours.
80
Miller's strength in her stories and in the film is in her ability to push past ideology and get right down to the nitty-gritty of desire.
80
Impresses with the originality of its observation, storytelling techniques and filmmaking style.
80
The movie's much more than a castor-oil feminist message about self-realization, bad old Dad and all those awful men. The performances take care of that.
80
Embraces reality, humanity and compassion, as leavened by wisdom and wit.
80
Moviegoers bewailing the absence of literacy and shallowness of character they usually get for their seven bucks need look no further than this fluent and satisfying triptych for a source of hope.
