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Journey from the Fall
Metascore
70 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
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  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    90
    An example of sophisticated, impassioned filmmaking involving mainly people who lived through the harrowing experiences so unsparingly depicted, Journey From the Fall powerfully illustrates the refugee/immigrant experience.
  2. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Janice Page
    88
    Even when its wires are showing, the movie's soul is always evident.
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Michael Rechtshaffen
    80
    A movingly rendered, stirringly photographed first feature by Ham Tran.
  4. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Mark Bell
    80
    Journey from the Fall re-educates as well as entertains, but never takes the easy way out, nor does it preach. In the end, it's a snippet of one family forever altered, and despite all the political undertones, it's the human level on which the film succeeds most of all.
  5. Variety
    Reviewed by: Russell Edwards
    80
    A post-Vietnam War boat people saga is launched to compelling effect in Journey From the Fall, a sleek U.S. production.
  6. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: G. Allen Johnson
    75
    If there is a beef to be had, it is that Tran seems to have tried so hard to make a movie of importance that his characters often resemble archetypes as opposed to people; the game cast appears straitjacketed at times. Still, it's a story that needed to be told.
  7. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    70
    The film depicts one family's endurance in sturdy, old-movie style, with sweeping camerawork, a monumental and occasionally intrusive orchestral score, gorgeous yet forbidding natural vistas and enough shocking tragedies, brazen escapes and crowd-pleasing acts of defiance to fuel several action-adventure pictures.
  8. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    67
    A popular Vietnamese fable that bookends this first-time filmmaker's movie may have the effect of distancing more Americans than it draws in, but once the film gets going there is no turning your back on it.
  9. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    50
    Tran's reliance on declamatory political dialogue and movie-of-the-week inspirationalism feels decidedly old-fashioned and, finally, even phony.
  10. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Bill White
    42
    The film may be like looking through a stranger's scrapbook. With sketchy and didactic scenes lacking narrative cohesion, it is a collection of often strong images that fail to come to life.
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User Reviews

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User Score
9.3 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. KenD.
    10
    This movie should be required watching by all residence of Berkley, California! This movie tells the true story of our desertion from Vietnam because of the liberal media agenda in the United States. Many of our soldiers died for a noble cause that the media has yet to address. I only wish all anti war liberals would watch this wonderful movie. It tells the true story the way it was. This can be sugar coated all you want, but the US had a noble mission that got lost in the US television, newspapers, and radios lop sided view of the war.… Full Review »
  2. HaiT.
    9
    To tell the truth, Ham Tran's Journey of the Fall hasn't featured the utmost cruelty of the VC and Siamese pirates.
  3. VincentN.
    8
    The movie was moving. Both my wife and I and most of the audience cried throughout the movie. It brought back painful memories that we would rather forget; but on the other hand, it may serves us better to remember them. It's a little long. The story of the main character (Long) should end later rather than sooner. Instead, his story ends too soon, and the new story of his family in California seems like the start of a new movie. All in all, this is a very good movie and a part of American history.… Full Review »
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