Krisha
A24 | Release Date: March 18, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
ConsequenceNico LangMar 24, 2016
Krisha, directed by first-timer Trey Edward Shults, is a masterful opera of discomfort and hurt feelings. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 24, 2016
The naked emotions, when they finally break loose, carry serious weight, akin to a John Cassavetes psychodrama. Read full review
100
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMar 17, 2016
Even the familiar elements of this particular family's drama are invested — through vigorous scripting, directing, and acting — with almost elemental power. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMar 17, 2016
The fertility of Shults' image-making and storytelling skills is almost breathtaking, and much of Krisha draws on the subconscious power of his direction in tandem with Krisha Fairchild's mesmerizing turn. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 17, 2016
When Krisha stands in the kitchen, wild-eyed amid all these human sights and sounds, you see a woman overwhelmed by life itself, as well as a movie that is an expressionistic tour de force. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 17, 2016
What you call Mr. Shults’s first film is spectacular. Read full review
100
The PlaylistCharlie SchmidlinMar 31, 2015
A stunner of a directorial debut. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Mar 16, 2016
At just 82 minutes, Krisha wouldn’t have hurt for a little more meat on its bones; the last act blows through a shitstorm of confrontation almost too abruptly. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 31, 2016
Krisha is a unique film, honest and searing. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMar 18, 2016
There’s an extended shot in Trey Edward Shults’s remarkable debut feature, Krisha, that’s a showstopper of bad vibes, a psycho-symphony that bumps the film to a different — more ominous — level of reality. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenFeb 26, 2016
Krisha Fairchild’s lead performance starts off as riveting and grows ever more compelling as the brilliantly off-center story unwinds. Read full review
90
VarietyJustin ChangMar 31, 2015
Shults’s approach craftily favors observation over exposition, and he proves as attentive to Krisha’s surroundings as he is to her inner life. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMar 31, 2016
Disarming, alarming, and more than a little impressive, Shults' movie was shot in his mother's Texas home, and the thing plays like a cross between Eugene O'Neill and a slasher pic. (It's cut like one; the soundtrack makes you feel jumpy like one.) Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 24, 2016
Krisha sucks you into its gradually worsening family dynamic with a confidence of style and a maturity of observation that is remarkable in a home-brewed Kickstarter movie. At times you laugh in horror. At other times you shrink from the screen. There are truths here. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyMar 18, 2016
Watching Krisha is a revelation: there are expected "rules" for such material (a former addict returns home for a holiday), but then director/writer Trey Edward Shults breaks every rule, making those rules seem tired and arbitrary in the process, and he does so with bravura, confidence, flash. Read full review
85
TheWrapTricia OlszewskiMar 23, 2016
All the performances are terrific and lend the film a vérité so keen it may leave you as uncomfortable as the titular outcast. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 22, 2016
It’s a small, modest film, but its impact is anything but. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnMar 31, 2015
Krisha snaps into focus whenever Shults' camera remains trained on his extraordinary lead, whose fierce commitment easily recalls a similar portrait of middle-aged alcoholism in "A Woman Under the Influence" — and, at under 90 minutes, matches its intensity in half the time. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyDec 22, 2016
The drama gets overwrought but Shults stages the fallout artfully, stressing choppy montages and a nerve-rattling sound mix as tensions erupt. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonTrevor JohnstonDec 6, 2016
The extraordinary skill with which Shults’s camera prowls and probes the enclosed surroundings also channels Robert Altman in chamber-drama mode. Those are strong comparisons, but this unexpected and hugely impressive US indie debut is worthy of them. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekMar 21, 2016
What really registers is how frustrating Krisha’s erratic, furtive behavior would be if she were part of your family — and how deeply sympathetic she is because, thankfully, she is not. Fairchild’s performance is key to the movie: Krisha is witty and chatty one moment, and shut down like a deserted fairground the next. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanMar 16, 2016
It is a bravura debut from a young film-maker, proving that one can still make a movie for no money at a family member’s house and come away with a work of art, not just a calling card. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonFeb 29, 2016
Even when the filmmaking falters, Krisha Fairchild’s unsettlingly intense lead performance dominates the movie, leaving us feeling as captive as the character’s wary kin. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiMar 23, 2016
Krisha is an exceptionally well done slow burn that ushers a striking new talent onto the film scene. Let's hope that Shults retains that black-sheep sensibility for his future projects. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoMar 24, 2016
It may be as emotionally exhausting for the viewer as for the participants. Read full review
75
The Film StageDaniel SchindelMar 16, 2016
Krisha showcases artistry that’s quite accomplished for a debut feature. That it’s all in service of a story that doesn’t seem to know what it really wants to do or say (other than dismantle its lead) is a shame, but there’s true promise here. Read full review
73
The VergeTasha RobinsonMar 23, 2016
For a first film, made on a shoestring with a largely non-professional cast, Krisha is remarkably textured. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesTom KeoghMar 24, 2016
For all its strengths, Krisha can also be self-indulgent and artificial. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 24, 2016
It’s slightly fussy, in-your-face filmmaking, but it’s viscerally effective. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleMar 15, 2017
This is a confident dramatic voice emerging and it will be interesting to see what comes next. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineJames LattimerMar 14, 2016
It rams home the main character's relentless downward spiral though an incessant parade of grandstanding stylistic flourishes. Read full review
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