Viewers may not realize how far they've been pulled in until the movie ends, and they might feel a sense of loss that it can't keep going just a little while longer.
88
Slant MagazineJoseph Jon Lanthier
Slant MagazineJoseph Jon Lanthier
By examining the relationship between Samson and Delilah through the wrong end of the telescope, Thorton soaks in the arid, unaccommodating surroundings with occasionally oxymoronic lucidity.
And by the time Thornton has deftly flipped the script regarding the titular Biblical parable's misogyny, you'll feel as if Aussie cinema has indeed discovered its next great voice.
There’s a bumpy, wholly unexpected dip into melodrama along the way, but the film’s commitment to its characters, and its sheer emotional heft, carries you along regardless.
How do you know you're looking at a pretty good piece of filmmaking? When the director and actors can make you care about the central characters even though they exchange almost no dialogue.
60
EmpireDavid Parkinson
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Tender and beautifully acted, it's a unflinchingly bleak glimpse of life on Australia's margins.
60
Village Voice
Village Voice
A deglamorized couple-on-the-run story, Warwick Thornton's Samson & Delilah doubles as a portrait of a tiny Australian aboriginal community.