The performances are excellent...
Comment
04/22/05
Rate this Movie 
Winter Solstice (2005)
62
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
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
Get This Movie
Reviews for Winter Solstice
Top CriticThis 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 CriticGranted, we're not wild about hams who try to flood the theater with emotion, but having them bottle up everything while they stand around looking gloomy isn't the answer, either.
04/21/05
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
What elevates the film from the mundanity of the character arcs -- if you can call them that -- are the numerous moments of silence.
04/21/05
This is minimalist filmmaking at its finest -- beautifully acted, dramatically fulfilling, often funny and achingly true.
04/21/05
Top CriticA lovely, quiet drama that slowly unravels layers of pain and frustration.
04/19/05
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
Not the most compelling or immediately satisfying storytelling, but it's intriguingly real.
04/19/05
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
We learn little about the characters other than that they're bored and restless.
04/15/05
Top CriticSet in New Jersey and it plays like a minor Springsteen song -- work, yearning, misunderstanding, a crummy car, moving on.
04/15/05
The characters interact through lowered gazes, the shuffling of feet, the semi-grunted, 'hey,' of greeting followed by a responding 'hey.'
04/15/05
Top CriticAs haunting and memorable as it is quiet and unassuming.
04/14/05
An exquisite and sublime experience that speaks to us with an honesty and a subtle power that is rarely captured on film.
04/14/05
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
[A] wise, perceptive film about loss and recovery that... recognizes that... this is a very personal process that everyone muddles through in his or her own way.
04/13/05
A quivering portrait of a grief-stricken family, all male, after the loss of a wife and mom.
04/12/05
This is a real triumph of storytelling and character.
04/11/05
Top CriticRT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Best Sci-Fi This Decade 
Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.
40 Worst Films of the 2000s
Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.
10 Questions For Zac Efron
The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.
Best Decade Ever!
Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds