72
Metascore
21 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenVertical Ray slows our rhythms and heightens our senses: it's a shimmering, tactile experience.
- 80New Times (L.A.)Bill GalloNew Times (L.A.)Bill GalloIt's a bewildering but deeply satisfying paradox, this constant, nearly silent collision in Tran's films of the visible world and the turbulent, unseen world.
- 80Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonThere are scenes that simply ask the audience to drink in the details, to enjoy the repast, just as much as follow the plot.
- 75Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerSeattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerMuch of the film is oddly ambiguous, as if Tran used it to explore conflicts of tradition and modernity and never came up with any answers.
- 75Portland OregonianPortland OregonianTran's cinematography is delicate yet probing. Faces, especially eyes, tell much of the story.
- 75Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittThe cinematography is gorgeous from first frame to last, but the story occasionally rings false.
- 70The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensAn oblique, vaguely sorrowful study in domestic emotion, structured around the small eruptions of feeling -- tenderness, anger, and joy -- that punctuate the slow serenity of daily life.
- 63New York PostJonathan ForemanNew York PostJonathan ForemanFor all its virtues, this is not a film to see on less than a good night's sleep.
- 60Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanFilled with bird sounds, Vertical Ray is almost surreal in its paradise imagery -- the movie is a sultry, harmoniously expressionistic riot of pale greens and deep yellows.
- 50Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumStory is fairly conventional and not especially well told, though as usual Tran's images are so sensual and beautiful that I was rarely bored or frustrated.