Union Square
Alliance International Pictures | Release Date: May 28, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Film ThreatPhil Hall
A raw, brutal, hypnotic journey into the world of seven heroin addicts who barely survive on the streets of New York City. It is a film of great sadness and pain. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The material is vivid and harrowing, although the movie provides little analysis or larger-scale context. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
It's depressing as hell. While most of the seven say they want to beat the habit and become productive citizens, only one, Ron, follows through successfully. Read full review
70
Village VoiceLaura Sinagra
The total effect, of course, is abject sadness as we helplessly watch each enact a unique anti-success story in an inverted reality show. Read full review
60
VarietyRonnie Scheib
Its unvarnished look at life in the slow lane exerts a hypnotic fascination that could hook reality mainliners. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
A moving film but not, to be frank, an entirely memorable one. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
Without a well-delineated political or social framework, Union Square offers little that we didn't already know. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Like its seven subjects, it can't see past the immediate demands of addiction, and the film becomes a seemingly endless string of scenes depicting shooting up, nodding out and waiting around for the next fix. Read full review
40
The New York TimesDave Kehr
Mr. Szklarski doesn't seem to have a strong point of view on his material. Too often, the film drifts into a kind of passive voyeurism, offering the unhappy spectacle of these wasted lives without perspective and without hope. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Far more troubling than the documentary's lack of data and analysis, its refusal to pose even basic questions -- whether, for instance, the so-called war on drugs is a total farce -- is the sense that these seven lost souls are principally on display for our viewing displeasure. Read full review
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