Memphis
Kino Lorber | Release Date: September 5, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New YorkerRichard BrodyApr 16, 2015
[Willis’s] heavy trudge on a game leg suggests weariness of historical dimensions; the harmonious mysteries of the urban landscape are themselves the essence of his art. A brilliant sequence of musicians at work gets away from familiar modes of filmed performance and into the depths of inner experience. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlSep 2, 2014
Sutton's Memphis framed in fascinating layers -- leaves and tree limbs, wig shops and overgrown gravel roads. It's a movie of a place and a character rather than about them. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen HoldenSep 4, 2014
A soulful cinematic tone poem. Read full review
80
VarietyRob NelsonAug 25, 2014
A digressive, daringly experimental study of a flailing musician, magnetically played by accomplished bluesman and poet Willis Earl Beal. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 2, 2014
I thought of “That’s Life!” while watching Memphis, Tim Sutton’s sometimes forced, sometimes extraordinary tone poem about a modern-day bluesman. Enigmatic and brief — all of 79 minutes — the movie seems to fall into the cracks between documentary and fiction. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineClayton DillardSep 1, 2014
The film's music is the city itself as well as a subtle suggestion that Tim Sutton's own digital cinema is just as elusive and intangible as Willis's unwavering sense of dissatisfaction. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirSep 4, 2014
Can I tell you exactly what happens in Memphis, or what it’s “about”? Absolutely not. But it worked its magic on me, and its meaning is something I take on faith. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweAug 25, 2014
Obscure, lyrical and exhibiting a far more European sensibility than even many American indies, Tim Sutton’s second feature is suffused with deep thoughts and emotions, but demands patience. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubVadim RizovSep 3, 2014
Constantly just dodging visual cliché, Sutton tries to isolate moments of beauty and frustration within a specific milieu. Sometimes he captures resonant moments in bars and in stray dialogue; other times, his purposelessness seems less like a strategy and more like an evasive feint. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSep 10, 2014
Sutton finds the lyrical tension in torpor; he shows how Willis’s artistic vacuum isn’t a passive thing, how it eats into him, how it even permeates the natural world. Read full review
60
The DissolveNoel MurraySep 3, 2014
While Memphis is similar in style and in assurance to the lower-ambition Pavilion, it reaches toward something it can’t fully grasp. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleAug 25, 2014
Ultimately, Memphis is a bold and bewildering conjuring act, that might mean nothing at all, but the sleight of hand is worth the price of admission. Read full review
50
Washington PostJohn DeForeSep 18, 2014
[An] aimless but oddly charismatic film. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesMartin TsaiSep 11, 2014
The film feels like a sketch rather than a portrait, beautifully rendered but incomplete in the details. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzSep 5, 2014
The film that Memphis most reminds me of is Bruce Weber's "Let's Get Lost," a meandering, ostentatiously gorgeous black-and-white documentary about Chet Baker. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithSep 3, 2014
Only intermittently does the film treat us to more than snippets of Beal’s woozy, misshapen folk-blues, but perhaps these are best taken in small doses anyway. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichSep 3, 2014
The filmmaker’s second feature is an unfortunate sophomore slump, an abrasive and opaque artist-in-crisis story that feels protracted at barely 80 minutes. Read full review
More From This Movie

65 Critic Reviews

tbd 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