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04/07/05
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Winter Solstice (2005)
62
%
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Reviews Counted:78
Fresh:48
Rotten:30
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: A deliberately paced, realistic portrait of a family's grief and healing.
Theatrical Release:Apr 8, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $245,785
Synopsis: In this solemn family film about three men sharing a broken household, Jim (Anthony LaPaglia) stars as a father just trying to keep it all together. His sons Pete and Gabe (Mark Webber and Aaron... [More]
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Aaron Stanford, Mark Webber, Allison Janney
Director: Josh Sternfeld
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Reviews for Winter Solstice
In the end, it'll warm your heart.
04/09/05
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05/14/05
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07/05/05
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07/21/05
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01/17/06
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06/24/06
Writer/director Josh Sternfeld has a feel for life's little interactions -- the moments before or after Big Things Happen, otherwise known as: most of the time.
04/14/05
This kind of conceptual and directorial control isn't as easy to accomplish as it might look, and it's particularly welcome in this era of overheated hysteria, both on the screen and off.
04/21/05
Top CriticFlashy it certainly ain’t, but there’s no discounting the value of a decent story well told, especially these days.
05/02/05
What's missing is any real drama--there's no protagonist/antagonist conflict..; there's little fresh in the observations of mourning and the perennial parent/child tug-of-war.
04/19/05
Filmed as flatly as it is scripted, Winter Solstice has little to say about family dynamics because it just doesn't do enough to individuate this potentially interesting household of grieving, unsatisfied men.
04/08/05
Director Sternfeld's sense of drama is so underdeveloped that he pretends swirling characters in inert tornadoes of grief is enough for a coherent plot.
04/18/05
It is satisfying to see fine actors express emotions in a completely relatable way, but the dimensions of the sorrows and understanding depicted don't really make for much dramatic excitement.
04/23/05
Audiences may not get too excited about devastated people who conduct their social lives at the local Dairy Queen.
03/01/07
Empty people leading lonely lives - if there was some character growth this might be more compelling, but without that, the movie seems a bit empty as well.
04/29/05
The atmosphere of awkward, wounded retreat in the Winters house comes through in Josh Sternfeld's tentative, earnest dialogue and in the quiet, unadorned way the movie is shot.
04/21/05
...while our brains quickly comprehend Sternfeld's point, our hearts never quite get the message.
04/22/05
Winter Solstice is the kind of ambling, event-free family drama that will either draw audiences in with its gentle, understated power or quietly bore them out of their skulls.
04/07/05
A quivering portrait of a grief-stricken family, all male, after the loss of a wife and mom.
04/12/05
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