Reprise
Miramax Films | Release Date: May 16, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Joachim Trier's energetic, inventive debut takes such a novel approach to well-worn themes that it makes most movies look downright lazy. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
A kinetic delight, Reprise comes from director Joachim Trier, born in Denmark but raised in Oslo, Norway, and it’s a highlight of the filmgoing year so far. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Reprise is kissed with the breath of French New Wave sensibility, sweet with verve and a love of forward movement. The mood of joy in the midst of youthful pain is enhanced by the freshness of the first-time lead actors. Read full review
91
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The movie has been compared, with some reason, to the French New Wave. But it's like "Jules and Jim" or "Band of Outsiders" blended with "A Hard Day's Night." Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
An exuberant, exhilaratingly playful testament to being young and hungry -- for life and meaning and immortality, and for other young and restless bodies -- Reprise is a blast of unadulterated movie pleasure. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Norwegian director Joachim Trier's inspiring first feature Reprise joyfully tackles the process of self-creation, as well as the friendships that feed and sustain it. He captures, in a way that's cool and romantic and heady, the moment in life when nothing matters more than ideas, influences and the possibility of shaping one's life into a work of art. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
With its almost stream-of-consciousness style, Reprise offers a fresh and compelling look at the vagaries of friendship and creativity. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Reprise is exceptionally smart about the crushing expectations brought to the table by those who love us. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Like many debut features, Reprise is a foremost a statement of purpose, and in that respect, at least, Trier shows limitless promise. Read full review
80
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Reprise--a masculine story whose women come off best--is less a hermeneutic finger in your face (though it aims wonderfully low blows at literary celebrity) than a savage, funny, tender, tragic, and strangely beautiful riff on growing up in a broken world. Read full review
80
SlateDana Stevens
The feature debut of young Norwegian director Joachim Trier, is as crisp and cool as a swig of Champagne. Read full review
80
Washington PostJohn Anderson
Reprise says many cogent things about success, what it does to people and how they define it. But it also indicts the mechanics of the culture in a way that is neither Danish nor American but globalized and all the more poignant for it. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Post-viewing, I was still coasting on the giddy high of kinetic cinema, only to have the astonishing callousness of its conclusion slowly settle in. It's a better film for it – one only wishes that Reprise on a whole had been of the same mind: a little less cool, a little more cruel. That's where the really good stuff is. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The result is a rich and touching exploration of the vagaries of fortune, literary reputation and, above all, friendship that works on several levels at once. The soundtrack includes songs by Joy Division, New Order and Le Tigre. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
The film could have been improved if it had been less aggressively limp. But the post-adolescent, pre-adult moodiness is spot on: Everyone's favorite author is a bitter recluse, and the soundtrack heaves with the suicide sounds of Joy Division. Trier's intent is to reproduce a sweet, hazy vision of the agony of youth. Ever so elliptically, he succeeds. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Clear away the annoying avant-gardism and you have a powerful movie about a writer, Phillip, who undergoes a mental breakdown and is pulled halfway back to health by his girlfriend. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Reprise has a smart and knowing script and will compel audiences to reflect on themselves at that age. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Youth may be wasted on some of the young, but the two aspiring Norwegian novelists at the center of Reprise, director Joachim Trier's debut feature, try desperately to avoid that particular cliche. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Its playful approach to chronology and voice-over narration serves to amplify its themes instead of coming off as a show-off trick. Read full review
70
Film ThreatJeremy Mathews
Reprise is an energetic romp through creative frustration, stagnant relationships, the fear of change and romance-fueled insanity. Read full review
70
VarietyLeslie Felperin
Final result, with its peculiar happy ending that may or may not be a further fantasy, may leave some auds feeling more drained than satisfied. It's a bit like spending 105 minutes with a litter of frisky, mischievous puppies. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Broadly, this is a coming-of-age movie in the "Diner" mold: Trier tracks Phillip and Erik and a few of their pals as they stagger into a world that can't be attuned to their (male adolescent) expectations--especially in regard to women. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Anders Danielsen Lie, gives a performance that's as distinctive as any in recent memory -- casually witty, remarkably graceful and yet terrifying in its explosiveness. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The movie is enjoyable for its flashy surfaces--the witty editing, the narrative forecasting, the droll omniscient voice-over--but as drama it seems superficial. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie itself is good and shows promise, except for the ending, when Trier shouldn't have been so poetic. Not only does Reprise generate itself, it contains its own review. Read full review
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