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100Take the backroom political machinations of "Lincoln," add in the showbiz sleight of hand of "Argo," and you’ll get something like No, a cunning and richly enjoyable combination of high-stakes drama and media satire.
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100No succeeds, wonderfully, because it knows how to sell itself. It is cool, witty, technically dazzling in a low-key and convincing way.
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Mar 6, 2013100The film becomes a sort of boxing match, getting more intense with each round, building to an exciting finish.
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100The movie — the third in a trilogy of powerful political dramas from Larraín, including "Tony Manero" and "Post Mortem" — uses period detail, archival footage, and '80s-era technology to create an excellently authentic, bleached, crummy-looking document of a great democratic accomplishment.
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100The essential thrust here is both knowing and undeniable: No is pitched at the pivot point when the image makers were brazen enough to push ideology to the side. Considering how high the stakes were, it’s amazing they almost didn’t get the gig.
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90It’s the rare political satire that can sound the depths of irony as No does and still end on a note of ambivalent hope.
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90The best movie ever made about Chilean plebiscites, NO thoroughly deserves its Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film.
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90Like "Argo" or "Zero Dark Thirty," the film dramatizes a fertile subject — in this instance, the language of advertising in modern politics.
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90A troubling, exhilarating and ingeniously realized film that’s part stirring political drama and part devilish media satire.
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90Even if No is not the whole truth — and no film is — its pungent dialogue and involving characters tell a delicious and very pertinent tale. And the messages it delivers, its thoughts on the workings of democracy and the intricacies of personality, are just as valuable and entertaining — maybe even more so.
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90Marshall McLuhan called advertising the greatest art form of the 20th century. In No, Pablo Larraín’s sly, smart, fictionalized tale about the art of the sell during a fraught period in Chilean history, advertising isn’t only an art; it’s also a way of life.
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88The Oscar-nominated No has the gritty feel of a foreign film from the 1970s. As such, it may take a few minutes for most moviegoers to adjust to its rhythms. Ironically for a film about advertising, there’s nothing slick about it — and therein lies much of its greatness.
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88No is an exploration of the power of the media to manipulate hearts and minds. The moral of the story: Always go positive.
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88A political drama, a personal drama, a sharp-eyed study of how the media manipulate us from all sides, No reels and ricochets with emotional force.
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88No is a comedy, but of a dangerous sort. Its eyes are open and the laughs tend to stick in your throat.
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88No grabs you hard, no mercy, and keeps you riveted.
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88For anyone fascinated by the political process and the powers of persuasive advertising, No is a resounding yes.
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83No is anything but a somber political tract; it’s a little bit of a thriller, and more than a little bit of a comedy.
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Feb 13, 201383The result is the most unexpectedly riotous comedy in years — one with more bite than usual.
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80A fascinating case study in basic-level democracy.
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80Anchored by an admirably measured performance from Gael Garcia Bernal as the maverick advertising ace who spearheaded the winning campaign, the quietly impassioned film seems a natural for intelligent arthouse audiences.
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80“We have to find a product that’s appealing to people!” says Garcia Bernal at one point. And that’s just what Larraín’s created with this Latin spin on "Mad Men."
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Feb 6, 201380Initially jarring, the video aesthetic blends beautifully with period footage to give a smart depiction of a nation in transition. A well-deserved Oscar nominee.
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75The movie needs one or two central characters directly affected by the dictatorship, in order to create more tension around a conclusion that's already known.
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75No isn’t nearly as definitive or declarative as its title: It leaves viewers wondering whether they should cheer, shrug or shake their heads.
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75Bernal is quite good as the young media specialist - it's always surprising to see how strong a presence he is in his Spanish-language films and how he all-but disappears in his American films. Is it a matter of the roles or the language? The jury is still out.
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75Here’s a fascinating piece of history that escaped much of the world’s notice, when it happened back in 1988.
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75The tone of uplift is earned. Larraín’s unarguable point is that, in politics, if we wait for good to issue only from the pure in heart, we will be waiting a very long time.
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Feb 6, 201375A singular biopic and a snapshot of a society renewed, No unaffectedly celebrates faith in democracy, and, surprisingly, truth in advertising.
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70No uses the actual commercial material the opposition created for its anti-Pinochet campaign and—re-creating the behind-the-scenes filming—deftly appropriates mediated history for fiction.
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70After "Tony Manero" and "Post Mortem," his devastating portraits of how the Pinochet regime psychologically brutalized the people of Chile from 1973-90, Chilean helmer Pablo Larrain satisfyingly completes the trilogy with an affirmative victory for democracy in No.
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67Anchoring a terrific cast is Bernal, who gives one of his best-ever performances.
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67It all looks crummy, to say the least, but this is clearly the director’s intent. I’m not fully convinced that the technique delivers the kind of veracity the filmmakers were trying to achieve, although it is a creative solution to an intractable visual problem.
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40You'd think that a movie about such a dynamic moment and such a vibrant ad campaign would be more dynamic and vibrant.
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40The result was remarkable, but the story of it, while true to the moment, needed — ironically — much more dynamism.
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38No, which has been nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, is largely a gimmick picture: At all times, it looks like hastily assembled news footage shot on grainy videotape in 1988. That means light flaring up to spoil the image, bumpy camerawork, a nearly square picture and all-around grubbiness.