| Universal Pictures | Release Date: March 18, 1959 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
|
Positive:
15
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
|
Watch Now
| Stream On |
|
| Buy on |
|
| Stream On |
|
Critic Reviews
Laugh if you want at Imitation of Life or any of Sirk’s primal cinematic operas. Although if you can laugh at the film’s end, when Mahalia Jackson herself sings “Trouble of the World,” I can’t help you. Just understand that when you laugh, you’re really laughing at yourself, and you’re laughing to keep from crying.
Read full review
A film that can tear you apart emotionally; it's both one of the great movie soap operas and a powerful indictment of racism. Sirk's cool, elegant style--smooth as silk on top, jagged and hot with feeling below--has rarely been joined to a more perfect subject. [05 May 2006, p.C9]
Marketed as a glossy weepie but in fact an outstanding piece of social criticism that goes to the root of postwar American life. [26 Sep 2010, p.56]
Director Douglas Sirk keeps the precipitation from becoming too maudlin. [26 Mar 1959]
Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
