The Year My Parents Went on Vacation
City Lights Pictures | Release Date: February 15, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
Most political films involving children are vicious or sentimental. The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, set in 1970 when Brazil was under the military dictatorship of General Emilio Medici, is neither. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Pulls you into a well-observed world and its characters. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
A sweet, intelligent little movie. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
The movie is stolen by 11-year-old Daniela Piepszyk as tomboy Hanna, one of Mauro's new friends. She has a face in a million. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Hamburger's earnest effort offers interesting perspectives on Jewish life in South America's most populous city as well as the fate of political dissidents during a particularly dark period of Brazil's recent past. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
The filmmakers succeed with an unexpected ending. It's as fresh as everything in the movie, which turns out to be about so much more than one youngster's resilience. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It really only comes alive in its shots of people in the neighborhood sitting around their television sets. What we're really talking about here is a problem in scope. In Hamburger's film, the world is no bigger than a cup. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
This sweet, yet unsentimental film is about growing up, losing innocence, and longing for a place, and people, to call home. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
What makes this film appealingly honest are its details, not its grand events. Read full review
70
VarietyDeborah Young
Sensitive, delicate and involving. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJean Oppenheimer
This warmly engaging film benefits from its understated approach (it suggests rather than spells out the political turmoil), and its light, comedic tone never mitigates the drama of the central story. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The performances are charming and convincing, and Mr. Joelsas does a good job of conveying Mauro’s loneliness and confusion as well as his playfulness. The Year My Parents Went on Vacation may not be terribly fresh or original, but its warm, sweet, nostalgic tone is hard to dislike. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
This nuanced coming-of-age drama by Cao Hamburger exudes warmth without getting mired in nostalgia. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Writer-director Cao Hamburger works well with child actors and has a spare, unforced style. But too much of this film is desultory and thin. Read full review
67
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Generally, this writer-director is too sensitive for his own good. He never lets his boy-hero lose himself fully in his new world - or relinquish hope that his parents will return. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
One true gem is Daniela Piepszyk, Mauro's teen neighbor, who is a fireball and the leader of the neighborhood gang of boys. You can't take your eyes off her. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A sweet and somber film that works hard to overcome its limitations. Read full review
50
Washington PostJohn Anderson
What The Year My Parents Went on Vacation seems to be about, in the end, is big-time sport as the opiate of the masses. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
A curiously unaffecting amalgam of the archetypal coming-of-age tale, here twinned to "outsider" religious overtones (in this case São Paulo's Orthodox Jewish community) and a small but deadly dose of uneasy political melodrama. Read full review
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