Still Life
Tribeca Film | Release Date: January 16, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
12
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireStaff (Not credited)Feb 2, 2015
Beautifully crafted and exquisitely observed with an outstanding performance from Eddie Marsan in the lead. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartJan 15, 2015
Director Uberto Pasolini (“Machan”) has a gem in Marsan, a virtuoso actor who plays the role delicately where another might have laid on the pathos too thick. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineWes GreeneJan 12, 2015
Its fixation on life's quotidian aspects gives way to a less imaginative focus on an inevitable and overly familiar romance. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghJan 22, 2015
It's not a fascinating (or even particularly interesting) character study — the film never lets you get close enough to its leading man to understand his damage — but it's nevertheless an intermittently moving one. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 29, 2015
Still Life is a very different story, small and quiet and, unfortunately, airless. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireJan 16, 2015
Though the film’s lachrymose gist is conveyed with subtlety and insight into the rigors of loneliness and mortality, it is lachrymose nonetheless. Fans of “Eleanor Rigby,” in any case, should not miss it. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubBenjamin MercerJan 15, 2015
While Still Life remains relatively successful at sustaining its plainly downbeat atmosphere—and at conveying the deep silence and stifled yearning of days and nights spent profoundly alone—it brooks too little subtlety in navigating many of the plot’s larger-picture developments. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernJan 14, 2015
The plot begs for a jolt of the Charlie Kaufmanesque — it's so pillow-smothered by tedium that even the uplift of magic realism in the film's final shot seems cold and stiff. Read full review
42
The PlaylistJessica KiangJan 12, 2015
The inescapably precious Still Life doesn’t deal in anything as truthful, complex and difficult as empathy; its only currency is pity, and that is the basest coin of all. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 15, 2015
The fragile film’s bid for poignancy is so aggressive and its sensitivity so studied that it eventually drowns in syrupy banality. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJan 15, 2015
As the pace picks up, whatever spell the movie cast is shattered, and Still Life melts into a heap of sentimental slush. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanJan 15, 2015
This might have worked as a short story. As a film, it’s not viciously bad, but it’s dull. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJan 14, 2015
Still Life constantly threatens to become a better movie: John’s scrutiny of photos feels vaguely serial-killer–esque, and there’s a late-inning love interest (Downton Abbey’s Joanne Froggatt) that you privately cheer for. Read full review
40
The DissolveMike D'AngeloJan 14, 2015
Marsan does his best to convey his character’s essential decency, but he’s hamstrung by Pasolini’s insistence on underscoring the emptiness of John’s existence at every opportunity. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJonathan KieferJan 13, 2015
When it's all over, Still Life feels disembodied and perfunctory, like a very respectful eulogy for no one in particular. Read full review
More From This Movie

45 Critic Reviews

8.0 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