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Silent Light
Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    What the film is really about is people who see themselves and their values as an organic whole. There are no pious displays here. No sanctimony, no preaching. Never even the word "religion." Just Johan, Esther and Marianne, all doing their best.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    100
    Even with its limitations, I find Silent Light spellbinding.
  3. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Reyhan Harmanci
    100
    A film filled with beauty and pain that moves at the pace of molasses and snails. That is to say, some of it is in real time. Audiences would be advised to stay caffeinated.
  4. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    100
    At bottom, Silent Light is less about faith than matters of the heart, and in Reygadas' hands, the ache is bone-deep.
  5. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    90
    The results are extraordinary. As understated as it is, the movie is both deeply absurd and powerfully affecting.
  6. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    90
    The film was written, directed and somehow willed into unlikely existence by the extravagantly talented Carlos Reygadas, whose immersion in this exotic world feels so deep and true that it seems like an act of faith.
  7. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    88
    As is his custom, Reygadas uses a mostly nonprofessional cast; and, as expected, he draws remarkably realistic performances.
  8. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    88
    Much of what happens in Silent Light can feel painstakingly mundane: milking cows, harvesting wheat, a long drive at night in and out of shadows. Yet throughout, there's a sense of something ominous impending, and while it remains gentle, the ending is genuinely startling.
  9. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    70
    Reygadas has hitched his austere and protracted style to an allegorical tale of subtle strength and depth.
  10. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    70
    It's amazingly beautiful and it tests your patience; both things are par for the course with Reygadas, After that, you've either surrendered to his idiosyncratic sense of rhythm, or you're out of there.
  11. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    70
    You know you're in for a hard-core art film when you hear more people raving about its opening shot than the movie itself.
  12. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    50
    The stab at sublimity-by-proxy doesn't take.
  13. Variety
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    50
    Reygadas' typically arresting widescreen visuals and the presence of non-pro actors speaking in German-derived Plautdietsch makes for an initially hypnotic combination, but the spell breaks its hold well before the end of the picture's inflated running time, signaling an endurance test for all but the most ascetic arthouse auds.
  14. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    40
    This director is too calculating to hold our trust for long, and skepticism will kill transcendence every time.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 32 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. ryancarroll88
    9
    Every scene could be counterposed as an impressionist art piece and the plot is meant to trigger your inner philosopher rather than your outer romantic. Basically it is a film that is meant to make you feel something - what the hell?… Full Review »
  2. RobertoReis
    10
    The finest film to date of one of the most important emerging filmmakers. Carlos Reygadas' Silent Light is an experience rather than a movie. Very rewardable.… Full Review »
  3. SibylP
    8
    Yes, the pace is slow, the resolution somewhat limited, but this is an unusual, beautiful film. The actors are not professional and what a relief from Hollywood emoting. Many shots are bold in their restraint, breaking convention. The language and look of the characters are a revelation. It takes us to a seemingly faraway time and place. And it was worth the price of admission for the wide shot of the cows coming in the barn. Risky, odd, inventive, this is a director's film. He worked magic with stop motion for dawn and dusk. Brilliant shots, memorable.… Full Review »
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