This is minimalist filmmaking at its finest -- beautifully acted, dramatically fulfilling, often funny and achingly true.
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04/21/05
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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
Top CriticThe chill in the air is deadening for the viewer.
05/01/05
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04/07/05
Winter Solstice is a small, intimate, film that is going to stay with you for a long time.
04/08/05
Ultimately undercut by its fictional elements and its flat characters.
05/13/05
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05/14/05
To read between the lines in Winter Solstice, you better bring a magnifying glass.
05/12/05
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
A small diamond among so much emotional zirconia.
04/29/05
The movie is not plot-driven, for which we must be thankful, because to force their feelings into a plot would be a form of cruelty. The whole point is that these lives have no plot.
04/14/05
Top CriticWriter/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
Gently told, beautifully acted tale about a widowed landscape gardener who's afraid his growing sons are making all the wrong starts in life. As quietly dazzling as a small, very precious stone.
04/07/05
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04/29/09
The filmmaker understands that quiet desperation is often more moving than noisy suffering.
05/04/05
Ambiance-rich pic about the New Jersey father of two teen sons.
04/05/05
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
In an impressive feature debut, director-screenwriter Josh Sternfeld takes an observant, nuanced look at human behavior.
04/28/05
Top CriticThis movie deserves to be seen -- and learned from. It captures the moments in which each of us stares out across an emptiness, searching for a connection that will keep us from falling.
05/06/05
It's the kind of narrow-gauged drama that either will drive you crazy or absorb you in its low-key rhythms. Mostly, I went along for the ride.
05/06/05
Top CriticGive Winter Solstice some credit for taking an unexpected route.
05/06/05
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