Simon & the Oaks
Simon & the Oaks Image
Metascore
62 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: An epic drama spanning the years 1939 to 1952, this is the gripping story of Simon, who grows up in a loving working class family on the outskirts of Gothenburg but always feels out of place. Intellectually gifted, he stubbornly persists in acquiring an education normally reserved for young men of the professional classes, much to the chagrin of his parents who fear that he will become stuck up. He finally convinces his father to send him to an upper-class grammar school, where he meets Isak, the son of a wealthy Jewish bookseller who has fled Nazi persecution in Germany. Simon is dazzled by the books, art and music he encounters in the home of Isak’s father Ruben, which makes Simon long to know more about his own family background. Isak, on the other hand, draws comfort from learning to do something with his hands, helping Simon’s dad make boats. When Isak faces trouble at home, he is taken in by Simon’s family and the two households slowly merge, connecting in unexpected ways as war rages all over Europe. (The Film Arcade)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: David DeWitt
    Oct 12, 2012
    90
    With its exhilarating World War II narrative and performances that touch notes intimate and grand, Simon and the Oaks has an exquisite, and epic, ache.
  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    Oct 18, 2012
    80
    A two-hour theatrical feature that has the kind of emotional and storytelling reach regularly found these days only in cable TV miniseries. It's a warmly done family and personal drama that seems to cover familiar territory, but only up to a point and very much in its own way.
  3. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: David Fear
    Oct 10, 2012
    60
    The film never finds the right mix of the epic and the intimate - the personal as seen through the 20th century's Euro-geopolitical turmoil - that it aims for.
  4. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    Oct 26, 2012
    50
    It's as if there's a missing reel of film that could tie the story together and give it the emotional impact it takes for granted.

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