The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

All Critics (62) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (55) | Rotten (0) | DVD (9)

A delicate and touching story.

November 6, 2002 Full Review

Jeff Strickler

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan's most ambitious work to date, The Sweet Hereafter is a rich, complex meditation on the impact of a terrible tragedy on a small town.

February 14, 2001 Full Review

Brendan Kelly

Variety

Top Critic

Though this is Egoyan's first adaptation, The Sweet Hereafter could serve as a model for how to do it right.

February 14, 2001 Full Review

Kenneth Turan

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

As in Egoyan's Exotica and The Adjuster, past and present are intricately fused by the crisp editing, the mournful shadings of Mychael Danna's score and Paul Sarossy's austere wide-screen cinematography

January 1, 2000

John Hartl

Film.com

Top Critic

a new moral urgency seems to invigorate this film

January 1, 2000

Peter Brunette

Film.com

Top Critic

Egoyan sways away from the obvious, eschewing easy tears for something more fiercely intelligent.

January 1, 2000 Full Review

Joe Baltake

Sacramento Bee

Top Critic

In its unsparing depiction of the loneliness and despair that afflicts the tragedy-wracked town of Sam Dent, The Sweet Hereafter is one of the coldest movies ever made.

August 3, 2012 Full Review

Bryant Frazer

Film Freak Central

Cuts to the bone and stays there long after its end credits have finished rolling.

March 8, 2009 Full Review

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

...intelligent, stately paced film

January 29, 2005 Full Review

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Molds the past, present, and future into a tapestry of the cyclical nature of human suffering.

October 24, 2004 Full Review

Derek Smith

Cinematic Reflections

Based on Russell Banks' tragic novel about a town grieving for 14 children killed in a bus crash, easily makes my list of top 1997 films.

July 1, 2004 Full Review

Judith Egerton

Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Visits the impossible contradictions of bereavement with clear-eyed compassion.

October 15, 2002 Full Review

Margaret A. McGurk

Cincinnati Enquirer

This isn't a "flick" or a "movie". This is a film.

August 4, 2002 Full Review

John Venable

Supercala.com

A stirring portrait of a community struggling to heal in the wake of a crisis.

June 5, 2002 Full Review

Lael Loewenstein

Boxoffice Magazine

Explores the ways in which a tragedy enhances rather than diminishes a town's sense of community.

March 1, 2002 Full Review | Comments (2)

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality and Practice

Una obra exquisita.

August 31, 2001 Full Review

Alex Ramirez

Cinenganos

• 1. Dolores Driscoll: I wasn't driving anymore, the bus was like this huge wave about to break over us. Bear Otto, the Lampston kids, the Hamiltons, the Prescott, the teenage boys and girls from Bartlett Hill Rd, Pete, Suzy, Laura, Rick, Sean Walker, Nocole Burnell, Billy Ansel's twins, Jessica and Mason. All the children of my town.
  – Submitted by Pete H (12 months ago)
• 1. Nicole Burnell: We're all citizens of a different town now. A place with its own special rules and its own special laws. A town of people living in the sweet hereafter. Where waters gushed and fruit trees grew, and flowers put forth a fairer hue, and everything was strange and new.
  – Submitted by Chad E (16 months ago)
• 1. Mitchell Stephens: Something's happening that's taking our children away.
  – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)
• 1. Mitchell Stephens: Well, enough rage and helplessness and your love turns to something else.
  – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)

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