Little Ashes
Regent Releasing | Release Date: May 8, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
13
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Little Ashes is absorbing but not compelling. Most of its action is inward. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterStephen Farber
Ashes makes no claims to be an entirely accurate biopic; it's a speculative, impressionistic portrait without a lot of dramatic force or psychological depth. But it's an elegantly designed film that fascinates as often as it frustrates. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The Spanish actress Marina Gatell is exotic and engaging as a young writer drawn to Lorca and puzzled why he is not drawn to her in return. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
A typically bombastic lives-of-the-artists production made even more stilted by having all the actors (including the Spanish ones) speak accented English. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
If you'd like to know about the famously eccentric psyche of surrealist artist Salvador Dali, whom Pattinson plays, you're better off consulting written biographies. Little Ashes does nothing to illuminate the iconic Spanish artist. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
A trifling historical fantasy, gossip wrapped in gossamer, beautiful to watch but it takes only a light wind to leave the story in tatters. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
Director Paul Morrison ("Wondrous Oblivion") nicely re-creates the period, but puts too much weight on the sexual relationship as determining the men's artistic courses. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A painfully sincere study in creative passion, sexual ardor and political zeal that embalms a mad and exuberant historical moment within the talky, balky conventions of period-costumed highbrow soap opera. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Anyone interested in hearing the artist's heart-to-hearts properly translated is encouraged to seek out Leonard Cohen's flamenco serenade, "Take This Waltz." Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Beltrn, for his part, makes a solidly believable Garca Lorca. The problem is with the man with whom he's obsessed. In Pattinson's performance, we never see what Garca Lorca sees in Dal. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Little Ashes succumbs to the dreaded Masterpiece Theater syndrome as a talky historical drama weighed down by self-importance. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The movie could use less romantic boo-hoo-hoo and more Bunuel: It's engaging whenever Bunuel acts as ringleader or troublemaker, even when he's blustery and piggish. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
I can't imagine what Dali or Buñuel would have made of such bourgeois sentimentality. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The film’s biggest problem, beyond the overheated melodrama and paper-thin period trappings, is that the trio's fictionalized dalliances diminish their real art. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
The story and performances (save for Matthew McNulty’s angry Luis Buñuel) are paint-by-numbers, with social upheaval and sexual adventurism as dramatic as an after-dinner mint. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter Debruge
For much of its running time, Little Ashes wavers between the polite, stuffy style of a "Masterpiece Theater" production and the more pointed agenda of gay indie cinema, with real Spanish locations classing up the otherwise low-budget affair. Acting is stagy and hindered by thick Spanish accents. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The problem is that both Philippa Goslett's script and Paul Morrison's direction lack the stylistic craziness - the sense of real, lunatic danger - a project like this desperately needs. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Director Paul Morrison forfeits any meaningful statement about art for a pedestrian coming-out story, based in part on Dali's unreliable, self-aggrandizing memoirs. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The revelation of Little Ashes turns out to be none of the leading men but rather Gatell, a riveting actress cast as the girlfriend who is mystified by Lorca’s lack of sexual interest in her. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
An exceedingly silly historical fantasy. Read full review
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