The Son of Joseph
Kino Lorber | Release Date: January 13, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMar 16, 2017
The Son of Joseph transforms from a lark into a revelation in its final scenes, which are piercing, absurd and pretty close to miraculous. Read full review
90
The New YorkerRichard BrodyJan 9, 2017
This arch, bold, and tender transposition of elements of the Nativity to the cramped secular life of a high-school student in current-day Paris is as much of an emotional wonder as a conceptual one. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJan 9, 2017
In Green’s world, every moment is an unsolvable mystery that requires debate. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergJan 12, 2017
The Son of Joseph can be trying in its whimsy, yet it builds to a lovely finale that evokes the Bible, the French Resistance and the surreal. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijJan 9, 2017
The constant combination of highbrow and lowbrow elements is undeniably French but also very effective. Read full review
80
VarietyGuy LodgeJan 9, 2017
No one behaves quite like a human being in Eugene Green’s Le Fils de Joseph, yet a soulful sense of humanity emerges from their heightened declamations anyway. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 9, 2017
The Portuguese Nun (2009) was a gem of gentle comedy, and his new drama, The Son of Joseph, has the same droll innocence and lovability. With its carefully controlled, decelerated dialogue, it is weirdly moving in just the same way. Read full review
80
CineVueAllie GemmillJan 9, 2017
The Son of Joseph is nothing short of marvelous. A modernised tale of literal Biblical proportions that will make viewers reconsider what defines paternity, family, and their place in the world. But don't worry: that's a good thing. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyJan 13, 2017
Did I mention this movie is a comedy? It is, and a very sure-footed one, although the style does take some getting used to. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJan 11, 2017
It’s overlong, but behind its jabs at literary pretension, droll punchlines, and minimalist sight gags lies a search for the kind of guidance that parables used to impart. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineCarson LundOct 6, 2016
The insistence of Green’s gaze throughout the film encourages us to look beyond the mechanisms of speech and behavior at the more uncanny movements of the conscience. Read full review
70
Screen DailyDan FainaruJan 9, 2017
Open-minded audiences will discover a surprisingly refreshing, smart, intelligent and often entertaining, tongue-in-cheek take on the nature of family bonds, using references from the Old and the New Testament, with modern characters nicely fitting the mythical moulds without suspecting there is anything even remotely symbolical or divine about their existence. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonJan 11, 2017
Amalric enlivens episodes of limp satire by wholly embracing his unrepentantly self-serving libertine character. Read full review
60
Total FilmStephen PuddicombeJan 9, 2017
Eugène Green’s (The Portuguese Nun) direction favours symmetry over emotion, while the impassive performance style recalls French auteur Robert Bresson. It lacks the profundity to fully merit that comparison, but earns its uplifting ending. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTrevor JohnstonDec 13, 2016
The tone careens from high seriousness to easy parody in a way that makes the film slightly imprecise and slippery. Still, nothing else quite like it out there, that’s for sure. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredDavid JamesJan 12, 2017
I can’t deny that Eugène Green is a talented, idiosyncratic director and his Son of Joseph has many visual and intellectual qualities to boast about. But it’s a film I appreciated much more than I actually enjoyed. Read full review
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