The Song of Names
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: December 25, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
9
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinDec 23, 2019
It’s a profound, affecting and beautifully told chronicle of faith, family, obsession and the language of music. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyDec 26, 2019
Literate, sober, soulful, and considered as it is, the movie is also a little overly scrupulous in its tastefulness. Read full review
75
Original-CinJim SlotekDec 23, 2019
The pieces are there for a profound piece of work, and The Song of Names’ high points are worth the occasional narrative slog. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 21, 2019
The Song of Names is a more interesting than fascinating mystery than it is a profound statement on memory, loss, tragedy and faith — which was plainly its aim. The conflict is more talked about than keenly felt, the climax something of an over-the-top anti-climax. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergDec 26, 2019
There is much to admire in the fluidity of Girard’s storytelling, in the music (Ray Chen did the violin solos) and in the complicated questions raised about social obligations. Still, the movie never quite justifies the contrivance of its puzzle-box construction. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJan 15, 2020
The Song of Names evokes a certain kind of quality film that we associate with Holocaust dramas. Laudably, the movie fully escapes lugubrious wallowing, yet, perhaps as a partial result of this, The Song of Names lacks dramatic intensity and depth. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghJan 3, 2020
It’s an unnecessarily complicated puzzle-box construction that only serves to cheapen the story and diminish its impact Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 31, 2019
There’s a mystery at the heart of The Song of Names, but it isn’t much of a mystery, and once it’s solved, the movie loses what little interest it has. Though not exactly a Holocaust drama, the film is one in which the Holocaust figures tangentially, but crucially. Yet the movie’s overall effect is strangely inert. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineMichael Joshua RowinDec 21, 2019
In the end, the film is unable to bridge the gap between the emotions it elicits and the messages it imparts. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorDec 20, 2019
Mainly, this movie chatters when it should sing. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloDec 18, 2019
What he discovers is powerfully moving, but every step of his journey — and of the copious flashbacks that fill in various blanks — tests the viewer’s patience. It’s like eating an entire box of stale cereal to get to the prize. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinSep 14, 2019
A somewhat claggy, uneven work with stiff performances from the leads, both of whom seem to be sleep-talking lines as if they learned them in Yiddish first. Read full review
40
VarietyScott TobiasSep 14, 2019
It’s a fatally old-fashioned and lugubrious historical drama, muting the emotional payoff it labors so hard to deliver. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 30, 2019
In the end this “Song” — whose payoff may leave you thinking, “Are you kidding me?” — doesn’t so much crescendo as collapse in on itself, an orchestral work that peters out in a trickle of silly, sour notes. Read full review
30
TheWrapSimon AbramsDec 23, 2019
There’s ultimately too much strained seriousness in The Song of Names' dramatically flimsy and symbolically heavy episodic narrative, making Girard and Caine’s already dated feel-good historical drama seem especially tacky. Read full review
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