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Winter Solstice
Paramount Classics


7.2

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 5 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for language

Starring Anthony LaPaglia, Aaron Stanford, Mark Webber, Allison Janney, Ron Livingston, Michelle Monaghan, Brendan Sexton III, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach

A poignant look at the impact a woman's love and support has on a father struggling with his sons setting out to explore their independence. (Paramount Classics)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Josh Sternfeld
DIRECTED BY:	Josh Sternfeld
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 13, 2005 Theatrical: April 8, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	93 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

As quietly dazzling as a small, very precious stone.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A realistic drama that looks and feels as inevitably true and moving as a good documentary.

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

All three men turn in superb and understated performances.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

A high-wire act, treading a thin line of truth between hokum and homilies. You hold your breath, waiting to see if the filmmakers misstep, but they never do.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

The title is too cutesy and clever, but it's about the only unsubtle aspect of this poignant, humble drama that'll probably get lost amid the multiplex bombast, but shouldn't.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Sternfeld has created a garden on film that opens up its blooms for us, not in the dark of the movie house, but long after we've left the theater.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Beautifully unemphatic small-town drama.

Variety David Rooney

Story of a still-grieving widower and his two troubled teenage sons is distinguished by its emotional integrity, sustained mood of aching melancholy and superbly understated performances.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is not plot-driven, for which we must be thankful, because to force their feelings into a plot would be a form of cruelty. The whole point is that these lives have no plot.

New York Post Kyle Smith

A well-built machine that dunks you into a big warm vat of sadness. There's no plot: It's a situation drama. Instead of punch lines, it delivers regular shots of heartbreak.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Very little actually happens in the movie. There are no cathartic breakdowns or soul-changing epiphanies. Instead, we're offered a collection of small moments that feel so familiar, they remind us how false most films really are.

Slate David Edelstein

I can't think of too many actors who could bring off Jim Winters. LaPaglia manages to convey, wordlessly, the man's inner struggle.

The New York Times Lawrence Van Gelder

The boys, particularly Mr. Webber as Pete, are astonishingly good, and Ms. Monaghan, who looks like a slightly more tomboyish Liv Tyler, makes a deep impression in a minor role. Mr. LaPaglia, of the television series "Without a Trace," brings a tender gravity to the shell-shocked Jim.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Sternfeld's approach is rigorously minimalist, which is a plus since the Winters family is in no way extraordinary or distinctive.

Village Voice Laura Sinagra

What makes Winter Solstice, a nice little Jersey vignette about a widower and his two teenage sons, so striking is writer-director Josh Sternfeld's respect for the verbal shorthand of family interaction.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Sternfeld not only deals empathically with his cast, he seems to know that his screenplay is not very novel or stirring; nonetheless, he wants to present these human beings in their skins, so to speak.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's not sleepy, it's comatose, and writer/director Josh Sternfeld never wakes it up with anything as crass as a plot.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

Oddly, the film's strengths -- its quiet, understated manner; its non-plot; the awkward speech patterns and uncomfortable pauses that suggest emotional isolation -- are also its weaknesses.

Boston Globe Janice Page

Ultimately undercut by its fictional elements and its flat characters.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Despite stellar work from the cast, the movie seems as emotionally distant from its audience as its characters are from each other.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The film, bound to bore the socks off impatient viewers, mistakes reserve for depth and ends up hamstringing its talented cast into playing characters you never care about all that much.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The movie never actually gets to winter: The title is just a clumsy play on the family's surname.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

So much is unspoken and this slice of reality is so thin and slow as to make the film downright unsatisfying.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Sternfeld's script, developed at the Sundance screenwriters' lab, is spare to the point of stinginess; individual scenes play beautifully without adding up to anything, stranding the actors in an emotional vacuum that drains the life from their performances.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Too sensitive for this world or any other, this stifling portrait of a family stuck in bereavement offers the painful sight of at least two highly accomplished actors frozen for lack of direction from novice writer-director Josh Sternfeld.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Neither a change of seasons nor truly wonderful performances can breathe life into the dismally enervated Winter Solstice.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It's dreadful, but it's a special kind of dreadful -- the kind designed to appeal to intelligent people on principle.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

The result is a numbing void, and a long, frustrating wait for something to happen.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

. perez gave it a10:
Quiet, self-assured, this film is one to sit down by yourself with and fall in to. Beautiful camera work and acting. The story is simple and thoughtful.

Jeff L gave it a4:
The movie is bland and while it does characterize well there is no underlying movement within the film. Unfortunate.

McCoy C. gave it a4:
For people suffering from insomnia this movie would be a good remedy, Well acted, but slow to the point of boredom and the movie never gets anyway. Disappointing.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Touching, honest, shows the difficulty males can have in expressing, verbalizing their feelings.

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Winter Solstice Paramount Classics

Winter Solstice
Paramount Classics