Restrained, worthy and dull.
Comment
05/29/09
Fugitive Pieces (2008)
66
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:68
Fresh:45
Rotten:23
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: Though the retelling is a bit too subtle, the moving story and solid performances lift Fugitive Pieces beyond standard holocaust tales.
Theatrical Release:May 2, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $449,048
Synopsis: Adapted from Anne Michael's acclaimed prose-poem novel, FUGITIVE PIECES is a harrowing and haunting tale of Holocaust survival and personal awakening. The film opens in Poland, as young Jakob Berr... [More]
Starring: Stephen Dillane, Rade Sherbedgia, Rosamund Pike, Ayelet Zurer
Director: Jeremy Podeswa
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Reviews for Fugitive Pieces
Sliding from past to present without an overt purpose, Jakob's story has the grand and aimless sweep of a mini-series
05/15/08
Jeremy Podeswa's tremulous adaptation of Anne Michaels's novel aches with earnest intent and tasteful eroticism, yet it moves as heavily and lugubriously as a prison gate.
05/29/09
...might hold some appeal for those familiar with Michaels' novel...
04/26/08
His journey towards peace of mind involves lots of lyrical philosophising, which presumably comes straight from the film’s source novel, by Anne Michaels, and doesn’t lend itself to dramatisation, despite Dillane’s typically intelligent performance.
05/29/09
Canadian filmmaker Jeremy Podeswa has given it the old college try, but in pursuit of tact and sensitivity, he has hollowed out the novel’s urgency.
05/01/08
The best approach to the movie is to stay home with the celebrated novel on which it's based.
05/01/08
It’s a character study in which the lead participant is the least interesting person in the movie. There’s something inherently frustrating and unsatisfying about that.
05/02/08
Top CriticThe film can barely breathe, much less move.
05/15/08
Though the strong performances from the brooding Dillane and the ever-good Serbedzija keep things from getting dull, the film does meander its way to a final act that simply peters out.
12/01/08
Though much of the film's power is tamped down by the passive storytelling style, Dillane's performance as the adult Jakob is compelling, and Ayelet Zurer is beguiling as Jakob's late-in-life soul mate.
05/02/08
There are fleeting moments of poignancy and poetry, significantly when the script features narration taken almost directly from the novel, but this is clunkily written and poorly edited.
05/29/09
Fugitive Pieces, however well-meaning, is still pretty much an emotionally distanced slog.
05/02/08
Top CriticIf you haven't had enough of Holocaust-related tales onscreen, this is a perfectly serviceable one
04/28/08
Slow moving, torpid and melancholy...it's tearjerker material, but without the tears.
11/19/08
Well acted but dramatically unyielding.
05/02/08
Top CriticPodeswa's confusing, commonplace film lumbers along with a painful sincerity.
06/02/09
A generally dull and unmemorable adaptation of Anne Michaels' extraordinary prose-poetry novel.
05/02/08
Top CriticDespite a rich premise, the soul-searching of the older Jakob is, at best, curiously colourless; at worst, positively grating.
05/29/09
The latter third of the movie sags, the victim of forced profundity and heavy stylization.
09/05/08
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