82
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangLos Angeles TimesJustin ChangA nearly three-hour talkfest that plays out in something close to real time may sound daunting on paper, but if you can make it past the opening shot, you will find yourself gripped for the duration.
- 91The Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaThe Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaSieranevada’s mise-en-scène is one of suffocation, making for a dense and demanding viewing experience. However, Puiu’s exceptional script – both in terms of the quality of the dialogue and the painstakingly progressive characterizations – foments a burning wish to figure out all the character configurations, conflicts and backstories, ensuring that Sieranevada remains consistently, intensely engaging.
- 91The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangPuiu scoops up storylines and arguments and revelations armful by messy armful and the inexplicably titled “Sieranevada” becomes by turns pit-of-stomach-sad, flight-of-fancy funny and pin-in-heart moving. And never less than wincingly true in its deadpan acknowledgement of the beautiful absurdity of family life.
- 90Screen DailyDan FainaruScreen DailyDan Fainaruthose who aren’t put off by the extensive subtitling will find themselves swept away by this family reunion which offers not only a masterful portrait of the contemporary Romanian middle-class but also a whole set of smart, perceptive reflections on the relativity of truth, on the failings of memory, the interpretation of history, the significance of religion and much more.
- 80CineVueJohn BleasdaleCineVueJohn BleasdaleAt almost three hours, Puiu's latest is as long as most family events are, but the observations made are brilliantly bright and there is love here, after all.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijThe Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijIt is absolutely fascinating to watch how Puiu X-rays his characters to show how every single person onscreen belongs to several groups or affiliations at once...and how every one of them is either willing or forced to compromise parts of who they are to continue belonging to all these groups.
- 80VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter Debruge[Puiu] manages to weave a tapestry — or family quilt, if you will — in which deception and the hopeless search for truth is judged both on the micro level (as in extramarital affairs) and a more global scale (which is where questions of Romania’s Communist past, 9/11 and Charlie Hebdo fit into the picture), and where disturbances in either sphere ripple out into the world at large.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThe proceedings are claustrophobic, intense and alienated – often brilliant, sometimes slightly redundant.