| Twentieth Century Fox | Release Date: December 23, 1994 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
|
Positive:
13
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
|
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Critic Reviews
With its delicate fabric, this film sometimes seems in danger of unraveling. But ultimately it holds together, partly due to Foster's fine, poignant performance and also because some of the characters surrounding Nell reflect aspects of her personality. [23 Dec 1994, p.23]
Nell is a good movie made great by the lambent presence of Jodie Foster. [23 Dec 1994]
Despite its predictable philosophy, however, Nell is an effective film, and a moving one. That is largely because of the strange beauty of Jodie Foster's performance as Nell, and the warmth of the performance by Liam Neeson, as a doctor who finds himself somehow responsible for her.
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Foster's manipulation of Nell's strange language holds us in rapt attention and empathy until Apted falsely gooses his film. It's an excellent performance slightly cheapened by the filmmaker's dramatic framing. [23 Dec 1994, p.17]
Although the Hollywood treatment intrudes at times, it's still a compelling film, richly filmed and deeply moving. [23 Dec 1994, p.12]
Whatever you think of her performance, Foster has certainly made all the right choices as a producer, and come up with a movie of taste, integrity and considerable emotional impact. [23 Dec 1994]
Neeson is earnest, but this is a Foster we haven't seen before, a transformation that extends to her appearance. There's a showy aspect to her performance that raises my eyebrows, but it's a pretty good show. Better, to be sure, than the movie. [14 Dec 1994, p.1D]
Nell doesn't jell. Earnest and well-intentioned, the film never quite breaks through a membrane into believability, and hence into empathy. [23 Dec 1994]
There's something so charged and beautiful about Jodie Foster's performance as a Smoky Mountains wild child in Nell that it carries you past a lot of glossy bumps in the movie. [23 Dec 1994, p.C]
Under Michael Apted's direction, Nell is a pleasingly tranquil experience, its epiphanies as understated as Richardson's and Neeson's low-key performances. [25 Dec 1994, p.G01]
Jodie Foster, transcendent in the bravura title role, is far grander than the film itself, and her performance helps camouflage the weaknesses of its structure and the naivete of its themes.
Jodie Foster gives a bravura performance in Nell, but the film lets her down. If only the screenplay had been half as daring as Foster's portrayal of a backwoods recluse who's never ventured into the modern world. [24 Dec 1994, p.G1]
One gets the uneasy feeling that Jodie Foster is trying to tell us something that has nothing essential to do with Nell's plight. The movie is a coy, condescending vanity production. [25 Dec 1994, p.D6]
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