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Hard Goodbyes: My Father (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:27
Fresh:23
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: Karayannis handles the lead role well, and the result is a poignant exploration of grief.
Reviews for Hard Goodbyes: My Father
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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A tender and moving drama that deserves wider exposure. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Hard Goodbyes could easily have been maudlin, but isn't. Credit an adult script and realistic acting, especially by Giorgos Karayannis as Elias. Full Review |
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 2.5/4 |
Panayotopoulou does handle the material with sensitivity, but she relies too much on her young hero's unlikely precocity, which unwittingly diminishes the intensity of a child's very real grief. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Considering the delicate and weighty subject matter, the film's tone is surprisingly light, sometimes even humorous, which helps to balance the harsh sentiments that death inevitably brings. Full Review |
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A tender Greek drama documenting a child's disbelief in the face of his father's death. Full Review |
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2/4 |
Goes from being appropriately child-like to simply childish. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Panayotopoulou’s story has the ring of autobiographical truth, getting the details of the period and of childhood in general right at every turn. Full Review |
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3/4 |
About nothing so much as a soulful kid's first encounter with the most literal and poetic meanings of the word 'gone.' Full Review |
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B |
A sublimely subjective journey from denial to acceptance as a 10-year-old boy comes to terms with the finality of death. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Begins to take on an allegorical, global feel. Full Review |
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B |
Greek director-writer Penny Panayotopoulou's compelling debut feature is a psychological drama about an Athenian family dealing with grief. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Not perfect, exciting, fresh, but well crafted, well acted, and very well directed Full Review |
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B- |
Alternately whimsical and harsh, Hard Goodbyes probably deserves to be seen as a promising first feature, although it lacks the grace and novelty of a similar movie, My Life As a Dog. Full Review |
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B |
...has about it the whiff of autobiography, given the specificity of the details and the odd, enchanting drift from an initial tone of social realism toward fantasy. Full Review |
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4/5 |
With soft heartedness and beautiful imagery, the film aptly captures the feeling of disbelief and aversion that hits children in a time of loss. Full Review |
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Youngster Giorgos Karayannis is a marvel in this touching Greek drama about a son's devotion to his father. Full Review |
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It features an endearing, mature performance from its juvenile lead. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Aptly captures the feeling of disbelief and aversion that hits children in a time of loss. Full Review |
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2/4 |
Ultimately doesn't have anything that I haven't seen before in My Life as a Dog or a hundred other movies just like it. Full Review |
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