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Ten Canoes
User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5

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  1. Tj
    Jun 4, 2007
    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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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 20 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Andrea Gronvall
    80
    Inspired by anthropologist Donald Thomson's early-20th-century photographs, this collaboration between a Western filmmaker and the native people of Ramingining is an impressive achievement of ethnographic cinema.
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  2. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    90
    In telling this ancient story with style and humor, de Heer and his Aboriginal collaborators promote cultural understanding and acceptance by stealth, if you will.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Richard Kuipers
    100
    Anthropology and entertainment are marvelously married in Rolf de Heer's Ten Canoes. The first feature in an Australian Aboriginal language feels authentic to the core as it tells a cautionary tale set 1,000 years ago.
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