A Late Quartet Reviews
The Patriot Ledger
A classical-music ensemble rosins up the bull in a tone-deaf melodrama that loves its musical metaphors almost has much as it adores afternoon soaps.
Full Review
| Original Score: C+
Scotsman
One might expect a film set in the high culture world of classical music to come up with a more sophisticated metaphor for the insecurities of a violinist than having him worry about always playing second fiddle in life.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Observer [UK]
A Late Quartet is visually and musically rich. But above all there are the performances, individually and as an ensemble, and they're pitch perfect.
Flicks.co.nz
Impressive, superior drama.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Contactmusic.com
While this film has some bracingly strong observations on the nature of long-term professional and personal relationships, it also feels somewhat theatrical in the way its story develops.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
This is London
It is not flawless but it makes you watch, and listen, closely throughout.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Daily Telegraph
It isn't great art, but it is patterned after great art, and there are worse ways to make a film than that.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Daily Mail [UK]
The film offers first-rate, mostly middle-aged actors in an intelligent screenplay that's decently crafted, covers interesting but unfamiliar ground and has a worthwhile central idea.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Flick Filosopher
[L]ays on [its] metaphor a little too thickly, [but] all is preforgiven... by the sheer joy of getting to watch Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener, and Philip Seymour Hoffman rattle around one another...
Little White Lies
Wants to be Bergman, ends up more like a burgundy-hued Sunset Beach.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Daily Express
The picture's really about the trials and joys of performing for a living so it's no surprise that it has attracted such a fine cast, nor that its principal virtue lies in the acting.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Financial Times
Insightful and incandescent, this is a film for both music lovers and movie lovers.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Sky Movies
This skilfully constructed, beautifully performed drama will satisfy audiences looking for smart, intelligent filmmaking.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
ViewLondon
Engaging drama, enlivened by a trio of terrific performances from Hoffman, Keener and Walken, though the script occasionally feels a little contrived.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Top CriticThe result is a perfectly serviceable, well acted melodrama - but why so serious?
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Film4
A pathos-laden chamber piece poignantly played by an ensemble of actors at the peak of their powers.
Movie Talk
It's a shame that director Yaron Zilberman feels the need to raise the dramatic stakes so implausibly high, as the actors really are excellent - and the music is sublime.
Digital Spy
It's a film dripping with Zilberman's passion for classical music and the way it touches the emotions, and because the actors feel it too, you can forgive any moments of discord.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
