66
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaThe New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaThis startlingly evocative, complex and confrontational new film is not interested in justice or didacticism.
- 83IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichHere, the same genre tropes that are ordinarily primed for cheap thrills and big twists are bent towards the opposite effect, as the film blurs the line between reality and delusion in order to make audiences question a trauma so disorientingly awful that it might otherwise be easy to dismiss altogether — even for the people who suffer it first-hand.
- 80VarietyJessica KiangVarietyJessica KiangNina Wu is a thrillingly complicated sort of corrective, living out the progressive ideal of giving the victim back her story, even when that story, told with lacerating self-criticism and a deep undercurrent of dismay, includes a great deal that falls far short of progressive ideals.
- 80Los Angeles TimesSarah-Tai BlackLos Angeles TimesSarah-Tai BlackTruth and delusion intermingle within this space, materializing not as spectacle or doubt, but rather as an embodied, if not literalized, study of the ways in which women attempt to intellectually and emotionally make sense of their experiences of exploitation.
- 75The PlaylistCaroline TsaiThe PlaylistCaroline TsaiClearly, the director takes great risks off-screen. If only they were as great on the screen.
- 70Film ThreatAlex SavelievFilm ThreatAlex SavelievWhile his previous drama, The Road to Mandalay, showcased his keen eye for social realism, Nina Wu is suffused with visual poetry – all stark-reds and grainy yellows – and a dream-like (or nightmarish, depending on how you view it) atmosphere. It’s a portrait of a country experiencing significant sociopolitical changes. By focusing on its filmmaking industry, Z takes advantage of the opportunity to experiment visually, thematically, and narratively – at times, to the film’s detriment.
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreDirector Midi Z and his muse (Ke-Xi Wu is in most of his films, including “The Road to Mandalay”) take us on an increasingly fraught and stylized trip down the rabbit hole of “big break” success and the guilt and emotional scars that linger from what Nina might have endured to get there.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySome will say that Nina Wu is a courageous work for exposing the abuse powerless young actresses face when trying to break into an acting career, while others will no doubt feel that, by what it shows, the movie remains part of the problem. As unevenly presented here, it’s a wobbly tightrope.