Una Noche
IFC Films | Release Date: August 23, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistGabe ToroJul 29, 2013
There’s a youthful energy running through Una Noche that threatens to overwhelm, from it’s sun-kissed first image to its final moments on the sands of the beach. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlAug 20, 2013
The final, moving, nerve-wracking reels are all sea, sky, and desperation. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyAug 23, 2013
Despite the bleak-ness of the situation, the film vibrates with color, noise, music, ferocious arguments (both serious and teasing), and eye-catching snapshots of everyday life in Havana. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 5, 2013
Mulloy’s only other directing credit is for the documentary short “This Morning.” She brings a documentarian’s objective eye to Una Noche, yet the actors — non-professionals — convey exactly the emotions she is looking for. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanAug 22, 2013
The energy, thrum and heartache of modern Havana keep this teen drama afloat when it just as easily could have drifted into cliché waters. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 12, 2013
The depiction of Havana neither sugarcoats nor grunges-up the harsh reality. The movement intoxicates, but the situations are tough. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 22, 2013
Molloy occasionally goes overboard with her realistic approach to storytelling (there’s a sex scene that is way more graphic than it needed to be), but mostly Una noche thrums with the vibrant energy of restless youth taking their fates into their own hands, for better or worse. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreAug 20, 2013
In Spanish with English subtitles, has a lovely, big budget sheen (Shlomo Godder was the cinematographer) and a cast that plays this as documentary real. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesAnnlee EllingsonSep 13, 2013
Moving performances from Una Noche's charismatic non-pro cast, Mulloy's keen eye for visual detail and stunning cinematography by Trevor Forrest and Shlomo Godder of Cuba's turquoise water exploding against the sea wall offer a compelling portrait. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeSep 1, 2013
If certain pieces of the last act are less convincing than what precedes it, the themes underlying the illicit emigration resonate with the viewer's knowledge that, in the real world, two of these Cubans actually did escape. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen HoldenAug 22, 2013
For all its flaws, the movie, filmed with nonprofessional actors, is steadily gripping. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangJul 29, 2013
Writer-director Lucy Mulloy’s sexy, pulsing debut feature has an undercurrent of ribald comedy that doesn’t entirely prepare the viewer for the harrowing turn it eventually takes, but it nonetheless amounts to a bracing snapshot of desperate youths putting their immigrant dreams into action. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJul 29, 2013
Una Noche tugged at my heartstrings, but the film's almost phantasmagoric fixation on sex can feel crass and dehumanizing. Read full review
60
The DissolveAndrew LapinAug 22, 2013
Though Mulloy has a great eye for setting and theme, her grasp of character can be spotty. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNick SchagerAug 21, 2013
Throughout, Una Noche’s details — an old man singing as he staggers down the street, young boys wasting away their days playfully leaping into the water — feel authentic. Read full review
50
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeAug 22, 2013
Una Noche is intriguing enough, however, to make you hope that both Mulloy and her actors are heard from again, sooner rather than later. Read full review
40
Time OutMichael AtkinsonAug 20, 2013
Documentarian Anailín Lucy Mulloy’s eye for the decaying textures of modern Cuba on the ground is sharp, and there are passages—as the dull characters mope and kill time and work up snits—in which you wish the movie were simply nonfiction. As it is, everything feels fake except the Centro Habana barrios themselves. Read full review
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