Ten Canoes
Ten Canoes Image
Metascore
82 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 20 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
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  • Summary: The first feature film to be shot entirely in Aboriginal language (predominantly Ganalbingu), Ten Canoes is set both in the past (centuries ago, before the coming of white people to Australia) and in the Ganalbingu mythical past.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    100
    A marvel of warm collaboration and shared jokes about husbands and wives, shot both in dreamscape color and pristine black and white.
  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    80
    Ten Canoes is nonetheless audacious and impressive, but challenging work, requiring steadfast concentration.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: Sam Toy
    80
    Ten Canoes is a rare and valuable movie, providing fascinating insight into another culture without pandering or being stuffy. Seek it out -- swim if you have to.
  4. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    80
    It's a fascinating immersion within a highly ritualized Stone Age oral culture that, at least according to tradition, existed almost unchanged for thousands of years before the European arrival.

See all 20 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Tj
    6
    The film is beautifully shot, but it is really quite wooden. The voiceover narration combined with quite stiff performances makes the whole thing feel like a half-hearted reenactment...it never comes to life. There is little attempt to penetrate into the real lives and personalities of the characters. We have to be content to peer at their exotic faces and the exotic setting. The self-conscious references to the "story" are supposed to sound spontaneous, but are as stiff and staged as everything else. And, it isn't much of a story. I can't help wondering if reviewers would be as tolerant of the wooden posing of the characters if it wasn't about aboriginal people. There just isn't much to this film. The NY Times review compares it to the Inuit film "The Fast Runner." All I can say is if you liked this film, see "The Fast Runner" because it's a much better film.… Expand

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