Louder Than Bombs
Orchard, The | Release Date: April 8, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
ObserverOliver JonesApr 8, 2016
Told with a quiet cinematic bravura that somehow never calls attention to itself, this is a movie that captures, with singular intimacy and humanity, just how difficult it can be to communicate with the people you love the most. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Apr 6, 2016
These stylistic tricks open windows into the hearts and minds of the characters. They also make a movie about people grappling privately with their emotions feel energetic, even thrilling, in its own melancholic way. Read full review
91
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonMay 20, 2015
Trier’s sensibility for the dynamics of family, for the depiction of nebulous memory, and for the detail of life (the film’s full of beautiful, complex scenes), means that I’m already eager to take a second look and see what else there is to unpack. Read full review
90
Screen DailyDan FainaruMay 20, 2015
Richly detailed, sensitively played and cleverly mounted. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanApr 21, 2016
Along with his regular co-writer Eskil Vogt, Trier has crafted a profoundly beautiful and strange meditation on secrets, lies, dreams, memories and misunderstanding. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoApr 8, 2016
Sometimes its meandering approach can feel a bit more detached than in Trier’s best work, but this is ultimately a delicate, complex film that lingers, unpacking itself in your mind. You remember it in the same kind of fragmented images that haunt its characters. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnMay 20, 2015
An alternately wise, melancholic and good-humored look at people surrounded by support but nonetheless alienated by their incapacity to confront their problems. Read full review
80
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeApr 10, 2016
Despite the title, this is a quiet, intimate story of a family reeling from tragedy, but it’s no less loaded with revelations and breakthroughs, all set at a recognizably human volume. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekApr 10, 2016
Movies are often about so much more than what they’re about, and the riches of Louder Than Bombs—which borrows its name from a compilation album by The Smiths—lie in the way Trier reveals the secret fears and longings of nearly every character, showing, ultimately, that even when people fail to connect, that itself can be a kind of connection. Read full review
80
Village VoiceBilge EbiriApr 10, 2016
The tale isn't new, nor are the characters, but director Joachim Trier's stylistic and narrative dexterity demands attention: He possesses that rare ability to deconstruct his material without denying us the simple beauties of a well-told story. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenApr 7, 2016
Beneath the well-worn dysfunctional-family setup are bracing observations of the human coping mechanism. Startling expressions of longing and denial go off like detonations within the quietest of exchanges. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternApr 7, 2016
The result feels perfectly American — I wonder if Conrad was named in honor of the troubled brother in “Ordinary People” — yet the film lives and breathes with a lovely intimacy and density of detail that we associate with fine independent features from Europe. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezApr 28, 2016
The most intriguing character in the movie is the confused, tormented Conrad, who initially comes off as the kind of troubled adolescent who will end up riddling his classroom with bullets. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyApr 8, 2016
While Byrne is solid (as always) and Eisenberg is restrained (a relief after his manic Lex Luthor), it’s newcomer Druid whose scenes pack the most power and force. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithApr 7, 2016
Directed with great sensitivity by Norway’s Joachim Trier, the film is superbly, subtly acted. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoApr 4, 2016
Louder Than Bombs is a parable that takes depression seriously as a condition and a state of being. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneApr 11, 2016
But Byrne, who has lacked good movie roles of late, is marvellously grave. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 7, 2016
In truth, I’m not sure the movie jells — even the title, from an album by The Smiths, seems oblique. But I loved it anyway. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 20, 2015
Strangely, Louder Than Bombs manages to be glaringly obvious and admirably subtle in the same breath. Read full review
67
ConsequenceCollin BrennanApr 7, 2016
Louder Than Bombs is a ghost story disguised as a domestic drama. Read full review
67
HitfixGregory EllwoodMay 22, 2015
Trier is far too talented for there not to be some good things here, but it just doesn’t add up to much. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesJohn HartlApr 21, 2016
It has its value as a vigorous variation on a theme. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottApr 7, 2016
It is possible to admire the craft and sensitivity of Louder Than Bombs without quite believing it. The characters are so carefully drawn that they can feel smaller than life, and the dramatic space they inhabit has a curiously abstract feeling. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Apr 6, 2016
A quiet, restrained drama, Louder Than Bombs works a little like a photographer itself, changing its focus, showcasing scenes from different points of view, rearranging the order of the images. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleMay 20, 2015
As the family resolves problems of the film's own making, the satisfaction gleaned is relatively minor. The threatened and/or promised explosions fizzle out frustratingly, leaving behind the lurking impression of Louder Than Bombs as a well-crafted, well-played, slickly-written misfire. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 20, 2015
While it's well acted and has strong moments on a scene-by-scene basis, the film lacks an emotional center, keeping the impact cool and diffuse where it should be affecting. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonGuy LodgeMay 20, 2015
A tasteful grieving-family weepie, it's conceived and performed with utmost sincerity, yet lacks the intemperate human authenticity, the sense of profound strangeness in the everyday, that made Trier's ‘Reprise’ and ‘Oslo, August 31st’ so hard to shake. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshMay 5, 2016
Louder Than Bombs never quite comes together. You keep waiting for it to gel, but it just drifts along until it drifts away. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniApr 22, 2016
The film is a ponderous, overwrought meditation on grief, loss, guilt, and memory that prods and probes its characters more like lab rats than living, breathing creations. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 21, 2016
Joachim Trier is a Norwegian filmmaker who made a strong debut in 2011, with his film, “Oslo, August 31.” Louder Than Bombs is his first English-language effort, and it’s disappointing. Read full review
40
Total FilmJordan FarleyDec 21, 2016
Punctuated by a handful of well-observed scenes that belong in a better film...it's ultimately a flat, ineffectual affair that goes off with a whimper rather than a bang. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 20, 2015
A rather silly, pointless and directionless film. Read full review
More From This Movie

70 Critic Reviews

6.9 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL