Critic Reviews
68
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
14(88%)
mixed
0(0%)
negative
2(13%)
Showing 16 Critic Reviews
100
Wu is able to demonstrate both the timelessness and the universality of stories which, on the surface, sound extreme and unique.
83
If all this sounds awfully classroom-bound, it isn't -- far from it. Each man's story as he tells it is riveting, truly stranger than fiction, and awesome, too, in the way of unfathomable humans.
80
The film becomes at once an argument for the accuracy of fictional conventions and for the power of true, personal experiences.
80
Although it takes a while for Yu's thesis to jell, the film makes a lasting impression as it delves into an unfashionable territory: character as fate rather than a function of pharmaceuticals.
80
The dangers of extremism and the virtues of uncertainty are the keys to the remarkable Protagonist, docu helmer Jessica Yu's exploration of four men's journey through dysfunction, obsession and redemption.
80
A highly original and at times thrilling use of the documentary medium, and one of the most revealing films about the troubled nature of contemporary manhood I've ever seen.
80
Yu's film may be challenging to synopsize, but it's thoroughly engrossing and wildly surprising.
75
Amazingly, no one seems steeped in the salubrious self-explication of therapy. They just sound like very good storytellers.
75
At first, the technique seems gimmicky, but finally it's as compelling a perspective as any to understand how these men passed through agony to some sort of peace.
70
Yu's rousing, difficult-to-classify exercise in parallel storytelling is surprisingly accessible, and all the more insightful for it.
