Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Reconstruction

EMAILPRINTPalm Pictures

Reconstruction reviews
60
10.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 20 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  Foreign  |  Romance

Written by: Christoffer Boe
Mogens Rukov

Directed by: Christoffer Boe

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 10, 2004
DVD: April 12, 2005

Running Time: 90 minutes, Color

Origin: Denmark

Language(s): Danish / Swedish (with English subtitles)

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Maria Bonnevie, Krister Henriksson, Nicolas Bro, Helle Fagralid, Peter Steen, Malene Schwartz, and Ida Dwinger

A twisty and entertaining Kieslowski-like urban love story. (Palm Pictures)

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...

80

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Reconstruction has a poetic sensibility, as well as an old-fashioned Continental appetite for romance, that makes it distinctive.

Read Full Review >
80

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

This intriguing jigsaw puzzle is visually arresting, narratively inventive, and psychologically enigmatic.

Read Full Review >
80

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It is a fascinating dance between style and substance.

Read Full Review >
75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The influence of Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier looms heavily over the whole film.

Read Full Review >
75

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Uber-hip technique triumphs over substance in Reconstruction.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

The director has a natural's gift for storytelling and eye for casting.

Read Full Review >
70

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Mr. Boe keeps a safe distance from his characters' inner lives, he does succeed in conjuring an atmosphere of elegant melancholy and metaphysical anxiety.

Read Full Review >
70

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Everything blends in a haze of longing, so that watching it feels like being in love.

Read Full Review >
70

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Reconstruction means to be confusing, and is. It also means to intrigue us, and does.

67

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Features a supernatural twist that is merely okay, but the film's mood of fractured anxiety and longing made me eager to see what the director, Christoffer Boe, does next.

Read Full Review >
63

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

This languorous art movie is somewhat like "Memento," with its narrative fragments and memory mixups. It never explains itself, which means that the audience, like the protagonists, must take a leap of faith.

Read Full Review >
60

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Though ultimately the film is all smoke and mirrors, the sensibility it reflects is rich and exciting.

Read Full Review >
60

The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge

Despite the high piffle of the psychology and the arched abstraction of the story line, Reconstruction is well crafted. Under director Christoffer Boe's cagey hand, the pacing is sleek and the cinematography evocative. Claro's compositions are vigorously stylish.

Read Full Review >
60

Empire Patrick Peters

Both women are impeccably played by Maria Bonnevie.

Read Full Review >
50

Chicago Reader Mark Peranson

Directed with confidence, but it's extremely pretentious--the boy-meets-girl equivalent of Lars von Trier's “The Element of Crime”.

Read Full Review >
50

Variety Lisa Nesselson

Valiant attempt to innovate in the well-trod realm of Boy Meets Girl doesn't quite coalesce despite a thoughtful and distinctive visual approach.

Read Full Review >
50

Village Voice J. Hoberman

That Reconstruction is even remotely involving is due to the quality of its acting.

Read Full Review >
50

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The movie is so chilly and fundamentally empty at its core that we're more or less on the outside looking in.

Read Full Review >
40

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Reconstruction doesn't evoke much emotion beyond cool ennui. At that, the film excels.

Read Full Review >
40

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Eventually it all starts to feel like an extended European perfume ad: pretty but eye-rollingly pretentious.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes

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

Leo gave it a10:
Saw this at the CineManila Int'l Film Festival last year. I loved it! One of my favorites... it has this charm that really appealed to me.

MaƂgosia gave it a10:
The first film for quite a long time that I've seen in cinema twice, I couldn't resist. Well-deserved Frog at Camerimage Festival. Remarkable feast for eyes.

Elijah S. gave it a10:
Wow. That's really the best piece of cinema I've seen all year. I mean, I've seen better movies, but as cinema -- and especially as a contribution to the artform as a whole -- this film has a considerable sum to offer. The cinematography was spot-on and consistantly creative without becoming too obstrusive (for my tastes). The pace flagged a bit in the middle, definately, the it opened and closed very, very strongly. I couldn't be more pleased with the novel way that the subject matter was handled. Everything was made to feel fresh and vibrant, as if it really were the first love story ever filmed. I think many critics were thrown by the heavy and convoluted use of film grammar -- they mistook over-articulateness for "coolness". Okay, sure, it's a pretentious and stylish film (to which I might add, with sarcastic glee, all films should have some pretense and some style, wink wink). Which is a shame, since this was a deeply felt and very moving experience for someone comfortable with such things. As for Lisa Nesselson's absurd review written for 'Variety'... does she honestly expect filmmakers to stay away from tackling the theme of love simply because it's been done before? It cracks me up when critics say these things... a movie is bad because it's the second movie about the most important thing in human life: love. Remind me to cancel my subscription to 'Variety'. Recommended.

L M gave it a 10:
This was one of my favorite films at the Seattle Film Festival this summer. Beautifully made, and a delight to watch.

Popular on CBS sites: College Signing Day | Olympics | Lost | iPhone | Cell Phones | Video Game Reviews | Free Music

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use