Spoken Word
Variance Films | Release Date: July 23, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesJeannette Catsoulis
Strongly acted and beautifully photographed (by Virgil Mirano), Spoken Word is a quietly resonant family drama about the tug of old habits and the difficulties of escaping the past. Read full review
80
VarietyRonnie Scheib
Spoken Word benefits from an improbably perfect storm of production circumstances: The muscular, balanced script, the brainchild of an unusual alliance between professional poet Joe Ray Sandoval and TV writer William T. Conway, consistently plays to Nunez's strengths. Read full review
80
Time OutS. James Snyder
Filmmaker Victor Nunez pairs evocative locales--beatnik Bay Area, bucolic rural New Mexico--with fleeting asides of poetry (penned by the Santa Fe–based writer Joe Ray Sandoval); these meditative detours both elevate a routine story arc and tap into tangled, twisted familial roots. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Now here's this rich and textured film. Read full review
75
ObserverRex Reed
The movie is about how he learns to show what's in his heart even when he can't find the spoken words to express his feelings aloud. Under the careful guidance of Mr. Nunez, Mr. Becker does both, in ways that reminded me of a Hispanic James Dean. Read full review
65
MovielineMichelle Orange
Has just enough genuine warmth to compensate for the coolness you might feel toward its generic trappings. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
Spoken Word, which centers on the tense reunion between a recovering addict poet and his dying father, features more cliches than it can comfortably handle and is not helped by its grindingly slow pacing. Read full review
50
Village VoiceEric Hynes
Though crudely constructed (the lighting and framing are strictly soap opera), unevenly acted (Becker is a bundle of distracting tics), and bluntly scripted, the film does have an honest integrity--at least whenever Blades is onscreen. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubSam Adams
Apart from its title, there's very little poetic about Spoken Word. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJoshua Katzman
Unfortunately, the dialogue here is littered with cliches, and Ruben Blades as the dying father is the only character that registers with any degree of authenticity. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazineJohn P. McCarthy
While in many respects Spoken Word is adequately specific, it's still not very deep. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
The self-conscious poetry and Cruz's diagnosis of bipolar disorder threaten to add too many notes to this quiet drama. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele
With the patiently assembled '90s films "Ruby in Paradise" and "Ulee's Gold," director Victor Nuñez gave independent film a quiet luster of hand-craftsmanship sorely lacking in his dreary new effort, Spoken Word. Read full review
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