La Ciénaga
Cowboy Booking International | Release Date: October 3, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago ReaderMeredith Brody
Every frame is dense with life, with children and animals running in and out, yet it's not messy. Instead it's highly focused--and something of a small masterpiece. Read full review
100
Village VoiceAmy Taubin
A veritable Chekhov tragicomedy of provincial life. Read full review
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Vital and alive. Frustration and malaise rumble through every richly textured frame, but behind it all is a restlessness and a desire for something better. Read full review
90
New Times (L.A.)Bill Gallo
For better or worse, the filmmaker says nothing directly political about the cruel fate suffered by her people, but the dark poetry of her allusions is powerful. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Martel's sharp observations of the foibles of human nature are expressed perfectly in the telling images of cinematographer Hugo Colace and tight editing of Santiago Ricci. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen Holden
As La Ciénaga perspires from the screen, it creates a vision of social malaise that feels paradoxically familiar and new. Read full review
88
Chicago TribunePatrick Z. McGavin
Argentinean filmmaker Lucrecia Martel takes fundamental risks with form and style, and it pays off brilliantly. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Martel can barely contain her disgust, and like Bunuel before her, she knows just when to cut the laughs and go straight for the throat. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
There's a new sensibility at work here, wry yet lushly disaffected, and it will be worth watching what Martel does next. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Martel's off-the-cuff candor and intelligent eye for the quietly telling detail charts the progressive rot not only of a family, but of an entire social class. Read full review
80
VarietyEddie Cockrell
An atmospheric and cumulatively impressive feature-length debut from Argentine writer-director Lucrecia Martel. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
The triumph of La Cienaga lies in Martel's way of fashioning the kind of ensemble performance that draws us in by convincing us we're watching behavior, not acting. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It's better to know going in that you're not expected to be able to fit everything together, that you may lose track of some members of the large cast, that it's like attending a family reunion when it's not your family and your hosts are too drunk to introduce you around. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
A fascinating, damning picture of bourgeois boredom that manages to be both epic and intimate at the same time. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Doesn't necessarily make for a crowdpleasing experience, though it is a provocative and uncomfortably authentic one. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The title means "The Swamp," and you may feel you're in one after 103 minutes with such a generally unlikable gang. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
It may take a scorecard to keep track of the complicated relationships in this sorry clan. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It sounds churlish to argue that a movie can have too much integrity for its own good, but that's exactly the problem with La Ciénaga. Read full review
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