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Fugitive Pieces
EMAILPRINTSamuel Goldwyn Films
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
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)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: The Five Senses
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
If Fugitive Pieces has a message, it is that life can heal us, if we allow it.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Fugitive Pieces has a sharp, devastating story to tell.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Sid Smith
The performances are often more compelling than the movie's sometimes static storytelling.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis
For a tale spiked with so much torment, Fugitive Pieces feels remarkably soothing.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
In many ways, Fugitive Pieces is a beautiful film. But it's a bit TOO beautiful.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
