Before We Vanish
Shochiku Company | Release Date: February 2, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The Film StageRory O'ConnorMay 28, 2017
Anytime it feels that Before We Vanish is getting too caught up in its thought process, the director is always ready with a flash of ultra violence, slapstick humor, or a pithy line. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 1, 2018
Mr. Kurosawa, a prolific and skilled genre master, spins this parable with a light, nimble touch, punctuating heavy passages of exposition with punchy, modest action sequences and snatches of incongruously bouncy music. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorFeb 15, 2018
The cast of aliens, led by Matsuda, has great fun playing the humans-in-training, but it's Nagasawa's defeated young wife who really stands out as the performance that elevates the film. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsFeb 2, 2018
It's an unsettling, and sometimes high-concept doodle, but it's awfully hard to resist a film that marries Atomic Age paranoia and optimism with Kurosawa's signature post-modern, atmosphere-intensive style. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Feb 1, 2018
It’s minor pleasures from a major talent: B-movie fun in the key of Kurosawa. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineGreg Cwik
On its own, this is a fun, broadly satirical alien-invasion film, more self-aware than self-serious, but its beauty, its poignancy, comes from its relationship to Kiyoshi Kurosawa's other work. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangFeb 1, 2018
If Before We Vanish isn't nearly as focused or accomplished as Kurosawa's horror masterpiece "Cure" (2001), or as shattering as his magnum opus "Tokyo Sonata" (2008), it's nonetheless a reminder that he has few equals when it comes to spinning even the flimsiest B-movie template into a cinema of ideas. Read full review
70
VarietyMaggie LeeMay 28, 2017
Playing frequently like an absurdist political satire with only flashes of violence, this low-tension, drawn-out work won’t gratify the chills or adrenaline rushes fanboys crave, but the ending strikes a romantic chord so pure that all but the most jaded cynics will be moved. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 1, 2018
The promise of Before We Vanish’s early moments is never fully realized, however, as the movie plods and meanders through an overly-familiar narrative on its way to a half-baked and uneven conclusion. Read full review
59
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpFeb 6, 2018
Before We Vanish is almost too much of a stretch for Kurosawa, veering from gory sci-fi horror to screwball comedy to marital drama to alien conspiracy potboiler without the necessary connective tissue to give his genre cocktail equilibrium. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonMay 28, 2017
Perpetually shifting gears between playful sci-fi pastiche, quirky rom-com and apocalyptic thriller, Before We Vanish might have worked better as a single dedicated genre, but it becomes a little scrambled trying to cover several at once. Read full review
50
Screen DailyWendy IdeMay 28, 2017
The ropey special effects and platitude-heavy climax mean that the film goes out with a whimper rather than a bang. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid Ehrlich
The movie is every bit as bloated as his last few, but its charms remind us of his great potential (and potential greatness). Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 14, 2018
It’s a sardonic satire that lacks the wit, style or pacing to let it come off. Read full review
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