RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / Upcoming / The Banishment
The Banishment

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Showtimes & Tickets
  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

The Banishment (2007)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
56 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:16

Fresh:9

Rotten:7

Average Rating:5/10

Consensus: Beautifully shot, but ultimately disappointing, lumbering sophomore effort from Russian potential great Andrey Zvyagintsev.

Runtime: 2 hrs 30 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Starring: Maria Bonnevie, Konstantin Lavronenko, Alexander Baluyev

Starring: Maria Bonnevie, Konstantin Lavronenko, Alexander Baluyev

Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev

Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev

[See More Credits]

Reviews for The Banishment

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
 
 
1 - 16 (sorted by date)
Text View
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The Banishment is so obviously the work of an exceptional film-maker that you can't deny its power, ambition and ability to keep you watching.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
08/15/08
This is London

The film works mostly in ellipses and silences, establishing a solemnly mysterious mood.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
08/15/08
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

There are prize-winning performances, seductive landscapes and hallucinatory shots of empty urban streets and shadowy interiors.

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
08/15/08
Martin Hoyle
Martin Hoyle
Financial Times

Lumbering and beautiful, Zvyagintsev leaves few doubts that we’re in the hands of a fledgling master: there’s lots of striking visuals to keep you from itching for the exit as the leisurely running time unspools.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
08/15/08
Sam Wigley
Sam Wigley
Total Film

Though every shot is painstakingly framed and perfectly lit, the film fails at the human level. These people remain strangers throughout. There is nothing wrong with the performances but it’s difficult to create empathy without intimacy.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
08/15/08
Elliott Noble
Elliott Noble
Sky Movies

Photographed with mesmerising clarity and power by Mikhail Krichman, and consciously evoking those found in the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, they are the most compelling feature of this grindingly slow and self-conscious fable.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
08/15/08
Sukhdev Sandhu
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph

I can't help feeling that this is a slight misstep from this director, and can't decide whether his film has at its centre a mystery or a muddle.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
08/15/08
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]

While the heavenly rays of the Almighty Himself could not have done a more exquisite job lighting the film, its beauty doesn’t compensate for the sparse, slow and unrewarding story.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
08/15/08
Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]

A frustrating, oblique and portentous endurance test.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
08/15/08
Dave Calhoun
Dave Calhoun
Time Out

It feels more like a ciné dissertation designed to showcase Zvyagintsev’s appreciation of the medium than an original piece of cinema.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
08/15/08
David Parkinson
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine

a timeless tragedy unfolds in slow motion - but the viewer's patience is rewarded with exquisite painterly images, some unexpectedly rapid developments and a truly bleak vision of human error and its consequences.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
08/07/08
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Channel 4 Film

For now, the best that can be said about Zvyagintsev is that he seems like he could potentially be a master filmmaker someday, even if he's still not made a good movie.

Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com | comment Comment
01/10/08
Jeremy Heilman
Jeremy Heilman
MovieMartyr.com

We will not reveal more of the plot in the hope that one day it will be playing in a theater near you . It is truly something to see; for among all the lives to be ruined it is a visual rhapsody.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
05/24/07
Mary Corliss
Mary Corliss
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A tone poem about loss, damaged masculinity, and betrayal, The Banishment is a visually arresting but dramatically flawed feature, representing an honorable (but no more) follow-up to the Russian director's 2003 stunning debut, The Return.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
05/18/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

If only the ravishing opening shot of Andrey Zvyagintsev's The Banishment was followed up with both beauty and something genuinely profound, then disappointment wouldn't be so palpable.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
05/18/07
Jay Weissberg
Jay Weissberg
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A movie falls into the clutches of long, solemn stares into space, meaningful drags on cigarettes, cryptic dialogue revealing little and a tiny drama that feels old, tired and empty of real purpose.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment 1 Comment
05/18/07
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 16 (sorted by date)
Text View
See All

More Movies

Close
Coming Soon
Tomatometer Percentage Movie Date

More…

— The Twilight Saga: New… 11/20
— Planet 51 11/20
— The Blind Side 11/20
92% 92% Bad Lieutenant: Port o… 11/20
90% 90% Red Cliff 11/20
See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

60+ New Moon pics

60+ New Moon pics

You want Twilight images? We got 'em!

Transylmania

Transylmania

Red band trailer for the vampire comedy!

2012

2012

Major havoc in these new clips!

Salt trailer

Salt trailer

Angelina Jolie! Espionage! Check it out!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Rachel McAdams Rumored for Spider-Man 4 Source: Mania.com
46
  • Danny Elfman Leaves The Wolfman Source: Cinemusic.net
13
  • Oldboy Remake Rumored Dead Source: Latino Review
7
  • Francis Lawrence Directing a Futuristic Sgt. Rock Source: Hollywood Reporter
1
  • Can Avatar Make Money? Source: New York Times
87
  • Robert Pattinson Says Breaking Dawn Could Roll in Fall 2010 Source: Collider.com
20
  • Joe Johnston Talks The Wolfman Source: Ain't It Cool News
8
  • Jason Schwartzman Talks Scott Pilgrim Source: Collider.com
0
  • Weekly Ketchup: Abrams eyes Micronauts, Aykroyd as Yogi Bear
99
  • J.J. Abrams Producing Micronauts Movie? Source: Wall Street Journal
11
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: George Clooney's Best Movies
92
  • Critics Consensus: A Christmas Carol Dazzles But Disappoints
43
  • Ho-ho-horror! 10 Scary Christmas Movies
36
  • Weekly Ketchup: Abrams eyes Micronauts, Aykroyd as Yogi Bear
33
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Christmas Carol Tops, Precious Rocks
32
  • RT on DVD: Up, the Ultimate Watchmen Cut, and More
27
  • Friday Harvest: Prince of Persia, The Road, and more!
26
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
14
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
14
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
15
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
  • Emma Stone talks Zombieland - RT Interview
40
  • Michael Moore: The RT Interview
139
  • Andrea Arnold talks Fish Tank - RT Interview
4
  • Neill Blomkamp talks District 9 - RT Interview
51
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • The Banishment at Rotten Tomatoes
  • The Banishment at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
Worst Movie Biopics
Worst Movie Biopics External Link

Moviefone brings us 9 failed attempts at biographical films.

Top Cameron Crowe Moments
Top Cameron Crowe Moments External Link

TIME reminisces on the 10 most iconic moments from the films of Cameron Crowe.

November Films
November Films External Link

BuzzSugar wants to know which movies coming out this month you're most looking forward to.

The New Cult Canon
The New Cult Canon External Link

The AV Club takes a look back at Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.