Vodka Lemon
New Yorker Films | Release Date: October 8, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Saleem, a Paris-based Kurd, displays the visual confidence and subtle screwball rhythms of a master, exploiting offscreen space, deadpan compositions, and deft visual backbeats, as well as attaining a breathtaking fidelity to real light and landscape. Read full review
88
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Iraqi-Kurdish director-writer Hiner Saleem is in no hurry to tell the story, and viewers drawn in by the warm-hearted tale and charmingly eccentric characters will be in no hurry for the closing credits. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The thicket of relationships that the director, Hiner Saleem, has created and weaves his cast and camera through is so invitingly hotblooded and crowded with hilariously melodramatic incident that the snowbanks are not nearly as forbidding as they initially seem. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Stratton
A little gem that takes a potentially grim subject and mines it for maximum humor and insight. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
Director Hiner Saleem has created a magical movie that veers, even within scenes, from love story to tragedy to comic relief. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
A fresh breath of air, warmer than the icy village in which it takes place. You'll leave the theater with a wink and a smile. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The situation in these former republics may indeed be dire, but it's a breeding ground for exciting cinema. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
As the picture winds on, the feeling grows that Saleem, who clearly knows these people, wants to show that their mode of life in this stark setting has, in a gentle way, a touch of the ridiculous. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
An appealingly wry little film that is as appetizing as its title. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A thematically bleak yet subtly comic film. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
A dark-humored film about devastation, which makes Vodka Lemon's final rush into comedy in the truest sense all the more refreshing. Even in the wasteland, there might be humor other than the gallows kind. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsRobert Dominguez
Saleem makes clever use of imagery, with the beautiful, snow-filled vistas representing his characters' personal and social isolation. But "Vodka" moves about as fast as the distant ice caps melt. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
This is frostbitten Fellini -- a film that finds fresh beauty and contentment in the wake of centuries of conquering armies. The great joke of Vodka Lemon is that the conquerors missed what was there all along. Read full review
50
Film ThreatPhil Hall
The film's leisurely pacing is often too slow for its own good, and many scenes meander endlessly with no true payoff. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Diverting but minor. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyDavid Chute
Exceedingly dry and precise and slow-paced comedy. Read full review
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