Bastards
Sundance Selects | Release Date: October 23, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleOct 31, 2013
Bastards is a thriller truly etched in darkness, pools of black broken mostly by the stricken yet soldiering faces of her main characters, like ships in a sea of stormy nights. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 22, 2013
The story grips you entirely even if Ms. Denis’s worldview here finally feels like a tomb: terrifying, pitiless, inevitable. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoOct 8, 2013
Conditioning the audience to find dread in every seemingly innocent gesture, the film turns even the simplest touch between family members into something tinged with menace. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Oct 23, 2013
This as one of the director’s most pitiless visions—a drama as pitch black as the night that envelops its characters. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinFeb 18, 2014
Because genre lets us know roughly what to expect, it can put us at ease, which is the last thing Denis wants to do. So she leaves questions hanging and mysteries unsolved. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramFeb 10, 2014
Denis’ sparse story delivers details on a need-to-know basis, right up to the finale. Strong on atmos, thanks to Tindersticks’ score, it’ll chill you to the core. Read full review
80
The DissolveScott TobiasOct 23, 2013
Denis’ atmospherics, as usual, carry the day. Read full review
80
Time OutSam AdamsOct 22, 2013
If Bastards is cold, it’s never clinical; rather, it’s a fully engaged, deeply moral movie about people who are neither. Read full review
80
VarietyScott FoundasAug 22, 2013
Even at its most opaque, Bastards always exerts a dreamlike pull rooted in Denis’ rhythmic layerings of image, sound and music. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill StametsNov 27, 2013
Bastards is both visceral and visual. Read full review
67
The PlaylistJessica KiangMay 25, 2013
The Bastards feels like what happens when an undeniably great filmmaker stoops to sensationalism -- it’s a smarter, odder film than someone else would make with the same material, but it’s still smart, odd sensationalism. Read full review
60
EmpireAnna SmithJul 7, 2014
An impassioned, fly-on-the-wall look at a serious social issue. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 25, 2013
A stylishly made but unyielding drama. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick SchagerOct 22, 2013
Style can't fully compensate for a tale that, underneath its gorgeous affectations, proves undercooked, especially during a third act that provides duly titillating answers to its initially beguiling mysteries. Read full review
50
IndieWireEric KohnMay 25, 2013
Bogged down by flashbacks and flash forwards, The Bastards pointlessly mixes up its ingredients, creating a distancing effect from the tangible sadness at its core. The result is the rare case of a movie that confirms its maker's skill while wasting it on useless ambition. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierOct 25, 2013
An oblique, by-design and frustrating drama, Claire Denis’ film about a man’s mysterious suicide and its repercussions is creepy, but finally too vague. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 25, 2013
Denis's drama intrigues more than it actually delivers...Sleight of hand is all well and good. But sooner or later a film must pay up. Read full review
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