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The Death of Mr. Lazarescu Review

Movies.com Critics

5.0

Dave White Profile

… a lot of nothing is what happens. Read full review

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 5.0
    84

    out of 100

    Metascore®
    Universal acclaim
    based on a weighted average of all
    critic review scores.

  • 100

    out of 100

    Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Mr. Lazarescu is that rich and riveting a film of universal small human moments and big-system failure.

    Read Full Review

  • 100

    out of 100

    Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

    Like "United 93" and the work of the Dardenne brothers, it lives entirely in the moment, seeing what happens as it happens, drawing no conclusions, making no speeches, creating no artificial dramatic conflicts, just showing people living one moment after another, as they must.

    Read Full Review

  • 100

    out of 100

    Chicago Tribune

    It is a black comedy, among the blackest. It is also more grueling in some stretches than anything in "United 93."

    Read Full Review

  • 60

    out of 100

    Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

    Needlessly long, visually drab and not just a foreign-language film, with English subtitles, but a film that's ostensibly foreign to our experience. That said, there are compelling reasons to see it.

  • 70

    out of 100

    Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

    Though it is undeniably bleak and pessimistic and marked by a texture of observation worthy of British director Mike Leigh, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is not as forbidding as it sounds.

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  • 70

    out of 100

    The Hollywood Reporter

    In this deep probe into modern-day medicine, the old guy is shuttled from hospital to hospital in a surreal, horrifying ordeal of errors, missed diagnoses and institutional malaise. At two hours and 34 minutes, we, seemingly, also endure his agony -- part of this Romanian film's power and, also, its Achilles heel.

    Read Full Review

  • 80

    out of 100

    The New York Times Stephen Holden

    A thorny masterpiece.

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  • 90

    out of 100

    Variety

    Picture's dour take on the dehumanizing process of medical treatment is leavened by black humor and dialogue that always rings true.

    Read Full Review

  • See all The Death of Mr. Lazarescu reviews at Metacritic.com

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