The Twentieth Century
Oscilloscope | Release Date (Streaming): November 20, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Original-CinLiam LaceyNov 24, 2020
That core idea here, the pole in the middle of the merry-go-round, is that the stuffy, secretive King, as Robertson Davies suggests, is the embodiment of Canada’s locked-down colonial psychology. The Twentieth Century is a strange creation, though but there’s nothing unusual in the notion that Canadian blandness may be a form of camouflage. Anyone who has read history, or for that matter, watched a hockey game, knows that. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Chandler LevackNov 18, 2020
Rankin has a made a great film about Canada and an even greater one about the kinds of subjects somewhat contraband in our home and native land: unbridled romantic longing, living in fear of one’s own mother, a perverse desire to masturbate with a dirty work boot, political ambition and shame. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubCharles BramescoNov 18, 2020
Rankin’s ambitious thesis on how idiocy, horny neuroses, and pure chance come to sculpt the geopolitical narrative never gets bogged down by the social-studies minutia. He throws one dazzling diversion after another at his audience. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmNov 20, 2020
Regardless of one’s whereabouts or knowledge of the Great White North, viewers will likely find this comic fable chillingly relatable, as the world teeters on the brink of totalitarian collapse. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichNov 18, 2020
While there’s a certain “muchness” to Rankin’s style, and it goes without saying this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, the filmmaker’s refusal to temper his vision serves him well in the long run, as his feature debut eventually achieves an operatic wackiness that carries it over the finish line. Read full review
83
The Film StageEthan VestbyNov 18, 2020
It’s the most exciting kind of aesthetic pastiche, one that swirls together so many different flavors that it feels like something wholly new. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleNov 19, 2020
Think Guy Maddin as the long-lost seventh Python. But it’s also one of the more vivid and amusing excursions in a year marked by unclassifiable realities and the need for diverting art. Read full review
80
VarietyAlissa SimonNov 18, 2020
The more familiar one is with Canadian history, the funnier it is. But even without prior knowledge of our neighbor to the north, it can be enjoyed for its combination of supreme creativity, jaw-dropping audacity and amusing tongue-in-cheek dialogue. Read full review
80
SlashfilmAndrew ToddNov 18, 2020
The film’s style is impeccable, its comedic delivery perfectly timed, and its editing sharp and energetic. A biopic by way of expressionistic absurdism, it’s a bold and uproariously funny statement of intent. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldNov 19, 2020
Is it all a bit much? Sure, but the self-consciousness is baked in: Rankin names one public gathering place “Disappointment Square.” Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerNov 18, 2020
The jokes are often ridiculous, as is pretty much everything else that happens, but there’s a palpable energy and visual inventiveness on display that keeps things watchable. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovNov 20, 2020
It ends up being a smashingly good and goofball history of the non-world of Canadian history and flim-flammery, deeply committed to its own colonial crazy. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 18, 2020
The Twentieth Century exists somewhere on the Venn diagram between midnight movie, fever dream, Turner Classics fetish object, and all-Canadian prank. Does that sound interesting? By all means. Does the movie go anywhere? Not really. Will you mind? I didn’t. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 9, 2021
The film dissolves in silliness and whimsy, but not before it’s given us some surreal spectacle. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreDec 8, 2020
I’m inclined to cut The Twentieth Century slack for sending me on a deep Wiki dive into Canadian history, and the visual inventiveness and perverse camp of it all. But Maddin got there first, and his movies didn’t feel this gassed for the last half hour. Read full review
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