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Fugitive Pieces

EMAILPRINTSamuel Goldwyn Films

Fugitive Pieces reviews
60
9.7 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Jeremy Podeswa

Directed by: Jeremy Podeswa

Release Date:
Theatrical: May 2, 2008

Running Time: 104 minutes, Color

Origin: Canada / Greece

Summary

RATING: R for some sexuality

Starring Stephen Dillane, Rade Sherbedgia, Rosamund Pike, Ayelet Zurer, Robbie Kay, Ed Stoppard, and Rachelle Lefevre

Based on the international best-selling novel by Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces is a poetic and emotionally charged film about love, loss, and redemption. The film tells the story of Jakob Beer, a man whose life is haunted by his childhood experiences during World War II. As a child in Poland, Jakob is orphaned during wartime, only to be saved by a compassionate Greek archeologist. Over the course of his life, he attempts to deal with the losses he has endured. Through his writing and his discovery of true love, Jakob is ultimately freed from the legacy of his past. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

If Fugitive Pieces has a message, it is that life can heal us, if we allow it.

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83

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Dillane gives such a layered, detailed, utterly convincing performance as a man struggling with an inescapable and suffocating burden of guilt that he quickly makes us forget that he's too old for the part.

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80

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Fugitive Pieces has a sharp, devastating story to tell.

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75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The strengths of Fugitive Pieces are its fluidity and subtlety. Emotional repression may be one of the most difficult conditions to portray honestly, and Dillane's performance of Jakob is a study in the art of creating sympathy by not asking for it.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

A subtly rich performance by Dillane and a fine supporting cast make this Holocaust drama worth seeing, even if you don't think you can bear another one.

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75

Chicago Tribune Sid Smith

The performances are often more compelling than the movie's sometimes static storytelling.

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75

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Made with an unerring visual dazzle -- its dark corners are shadowy, deep and melancholy, its brilliant seascapes the sparkling embodiment of why we must all find a reason to carry on.

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70

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

For a tale spiked with so much torment, Fugitive Pieces feels remarkably soothing.

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70

Los Angeles Times Gary Goldstein

Hopscotching time on film is never easy, but Canadian writer-director Jeremy Podeswa handles it with skill and care in Fugitive Pieces, his lovely, absorbing adaptation of Anne Michaels' lauded novel about a circumspect writer haunted by his traumatic past.

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67

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

In many ways, Fugitive Pieces is a beautiful film. But it's a bit TOO beautiful.

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63

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The movie does offer intriguing, perceptive glimpses of the everyday difficulties of being both a survivor and the child of a survivor.

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63

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The romanticized image of the tortured artist - never mind how warranted his or her angst might be - is the stuff of stereotype unless it's leavened with humor, or limned in art. In Fugitive Pieces, neither element appears in sufficient quantity.

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50

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Everyone in the movie, from Dillane to (especially) Serbedzija down to the child actor Robbie Kay (as young Beer), is fabulous, and Podeswa has an ability to distill history into a few powerful images. The movie, however, is circular in structure and keeps reiterating points it has already made. For some, it will be a long sit.

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50

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Tasteful, unremarkable art-house fare, rescued from complete irrelevance by Stephen Dillane's bottled-up performance as a writer scarred by the Holocaust.

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50

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The film has lofty goals, but comes across as leaden and pretentious. It's a character study in which the lead participant is the least interesting person in the movie.

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50

Variety Robert Koehler

The cool hand of Canadian writer-director Jeremy Podeswa proves a disappointing match for Fugitive Pieces, a generally dull and unmemorable adaptation of Anne Michaels' extraordinary prose-poetry novel.

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50

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Fugitive Pieces is a cerebral excavation into history, written in lush cadences meant to be read or recited. It may be unfilmable, and in pursuit of sensitivity, Canadian writer-director Jeremy Podeswa hollows out the novel's urgency in favor of a vaguely spiritual morbidity.

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50

New York Post Lou Lumenick

As plodding and pretentious as it is ambitious.

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40

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Though much of the film's power is tamped down by the passive storytelling style, Dillane's performance as the adult Jakob is compelling, and Ayelet Zurer is beguiling as Jakob's late-in-life soul mate.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.7 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Sheila M gave it a10:
A poignant, compelling, hopeful film about a dark subject, The writer has done a fine job with a difficult toadapt book. I found the film beautifullly written, filmeMd and acted.

Dave M gave it a10:
Heavy movie to watch, but even the small characters were perfect. A must see.

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