Blue Sun Palace
Dekanalog | Release Date: April 25, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Screen DailyTim GriersonApr 24, 2025
Each of the three leads in Blue Sun Palace dreams of a transcendence that may never come — Tsang’s superb debut puts viewers on their side, even though we see how long the odds are against them. Read full review
90
The New York TimesAlissa WilkinsonApr 24, 2025
It’s often said that New York is a city of neighborhoods, little galaxies contained within themselves, but the truth is more granular: We walk by a dozen massage parlors like the one in Blue Sun Palace every day, and never dream the whole cosmos of human emotion is inside. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyApr 25, 2025
Tsang has made a small, affecting, and studiously minimalist film here, with lived-in and tactile visual and design elements signaling a major auteur in the making. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichApr 24, 2025
Tsang’s debut is born from a palpable tension between the loneliness of leaving home and the tenderness of imagining a new one. Read full review
80
VarietyAlissa SimonApr 24, 2025
More akin to European art films than to American indies, “Palace” prioritizes mood over plot. Tsang allows her experienced actors plenty of breathing space to convey the melancholy of their existence in situations where dreams are more likely to be deferred than to come true, but are necessary nevertheless. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenApr 24, 2025
In massage parlor reception areas and backrooms, working-class restaurants and karaoke bars, Tsang and her strong cast, with superb contributions from production designer Evaline Wu Huang, have captured something evanescent and life-giving, and grounded it in kitchen clatter and workplace chatter, the gritty day-to-day. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesMay 15, 2025
What it conveys, quite beautifully, is the essentialness in sharing your life with others, through joy and grief. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineRoss McIndoeAug 15, 2024
Blue Sun Palace’s tale is filled with quiet spaces, and the way the texture of this quiet changes over the course of the film is a testament to its power. Read full review
70
Screen RantNick BythrowApr 24, 2025
With a deliberate pacing that is aided by great performances and stellar cinematography, the movie does a phenomenal job at showcasing the human struggles that follow tragedy. Read full review
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