Post Tenebras Lux
Strand Releasing | Release Date: May 1, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
SalonAndrew O'HehirMay 1, 2013
I also understood that while this movie is deliberately constructed so that almost nobody will “get it” or like it – and I’m not sure how I feel about that perversity – it’s a masterpiece despite that, or because of that or just anyway. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla DargisApr 30, 2013
Life and death, nature and culture, sex and money, man and beast, God and the Devil — Post Tenebras Lux embraces the world even if it doesn’t open itself up to ready interpretation. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 6, 2013
Post Tenebras Lux is that real rarity in cinema, a visually striking archaeology of the psyche that benefits both the moviegoer primed to engage Reygadas' ideas, and the ones open to being swallowed in an art film wave. Read full review
90
Village VoiceSteve EricksonApr 30, 2013
Confusion often reigns here, but the film offers a degree of lush beauty that makes sitting through it well worth the occasional frustrations. Read full review
88
Film.comDavid EhrlichApr 29, 2013
Post Tenebras Lux works so well because – even at its most random – it always feels like more of a single portrait of a man in crisis than it does an impish bouquet of provocative incidents. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith UhlichApr 30, 2013
What matters more is recognizing Post Tenebras Lux’s kinship with a strain of impressionistic autobiographical cinema practiced by filmmakers such as Andrei Tarkovsky (The Mirror) and Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life) in which every sound and image seems to spring straight from the psyche. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyApr 12, 2013
Some metaphors score and some miss, but this is leap-of-faith cinema: the rewards entail some risks. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill StametsMay 30, 2013
Spectacle matters more than story for Reygadas, who wants to create a world onscreen instead of developing characters or critiquing society. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeMay 2, 2013
For those willing to lock into Reygadas’ mad wavelength, the beauty is worth the puzzlement. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMay 1, 2013
The film is never less than fascinating, but it appears to be so intensely personal as to be all but indecipherable to viewers not personally acquainted with the filmmaker, or at least in possession of the press kit. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnApr 12, 2013
The issue with Post Tenebras Lux is that the narrative, not the filmmaker, feels dispiritedly half-baked. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezApr 27, 2013
Carlos Reygadas's latest, an almost impossibly intellectual film, keeps us at a remove that's as striking as that which separates its main character from the lower classes. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonDave CalhounApr 26, 2013
The film’s said to be autobiographical, but that’s entirely left to us to guess. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 12, 2013
An irritating, baffling, fascinating film. Read full review
58
The PlaylistSimon AbramsApr 12, 2013
Post Tenebras Lux is certainly unique, but Reygadas is often intensely more interested in provoking his audience than actually fleshing out his heady ideas. Read full review
50
VarietyJay WeissbergApr 12, 2013
The title, signifying “light after darkness,” derives from the Latin translation of the Book of Job, an appropriate source given that a considerable amount of the prophet’s proverbial patience is required. Not that the pic doesn’t have its frequent rewards. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc MohanApr 12, 2013
There's visual poetry here, in small doses, but it doesn't take long for one's patience to run out. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsMiriam BaleMay 2, 2013
The ending of Carlos Reygadas’ drama is set in a wooded Mexican landscape. That’s where Regadas (“Silent Light”) overdoes everything in a self-indulgent presentation of trite fantasies masked as memories. Read full review
40
EmpireAngie ErrigoApr 12, 2013
Reygadas' big ideas translate with mixed results. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungApr 12, 2013
Pretty pictures alone do not in themselves great cinema make - not for the first time, Reygadas' waywardly wilful approach to screenwriting and structure severely outweighs whatever fleeting pleasures his movies may impart. Read full review
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