The acting style edges toward parody, the material is unforgiving of Australian middle-class life in the boondocks and then, pow! - Sweetie waltzes onto the screen.
88
Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.
Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.
Sweetie’s brilliance stems from how Campion inventively explores the relationship between inanimate objects and personal memory, Sally Bongers’s static camera lingering on the precipice of a family unit brimming with secrets and lies.
80
TV Guide Magazine
TV Guide Magazine
Cruelly honest and pitilessly funny, Sweetie is one of the nakedest explorations of familial love and desperation ever filmed.
80
Washington PostHal Hinson
Washington PostHal Hinson
In making her first film, Campion has done thrillingly atmospheric work, and in the process, established herself as perhaps the most perversely gifted young filmmaker to rise up in years.
This Australian film by New Zealand director Jane Campion comes at you, and keeps coming at you, in peculiar, oddly enchanting bursts of detail.
75
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Campion's merciless staging forces a more intimate relationship between viewers and characters; it's hard to take a detached stance when she's smearing raw emotions all over the screen.