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Feb 26, 201383The kids’ performances are effective and strong, with little touches that bring them to life as recognizable types of smart young people.
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Feb 26, 201383The kids’ performances are effective and strong, with little touches that bring them to life as recognizable types of smart young people.
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30Between the loaded conversations and metaphors, and the phony overlay of a children's fairy tale, The Playroom can't stop telegraphing themes and interpreting itself. There's nothing left for the audience to do.
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Feb 7, 201360The drama often feels posed and inert. Even so, it strikes more than a few chords as it digs deeper than period cliché.
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38The tone of The Playroom is one of soppy moroseness. This imitation “Ice Storm” is as refreshing as a step into a puddle of slush.
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50Although Dyer's sophomore feature clearly intends to capture the magical otherness of a child's p.o.v., nothing in her strangely aloof mise-en-scene or her late sister Gretchen's script yields anything more than a group of well-thesped, believable suburban kids upset by their parents' behavior.
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90The Playroom captures the malaise of mid-’70s suburbia with a merciless accuracy not seen since Ang Lee’s 1997 film, “The Ice Storm.”
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42More than anything, The Playroom feels like an excuse to explore this retro house from a child’s point of view—which is perfectly okay, provided no one breaks the spell by talking.
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70A rare example of a grown-up story compellingly told from the perspective of children, The Playroom is a modest gem.
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Feb 5, 201380The Playroom jettisons all things cute, but still takes flight by portraying the characters, adult and juvenile, under direct lighting, and asking you if you care about them.
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60The precedent for a movie like this is Ang Lee’s bruised "The Ice Storm," but whereas that film sprung from a novel that burns with indictment, Julia Dyer’s effort — scripted by her late sister, Gretchen — is a more open-ended affair and slightly unsatisfying for it.
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Feb 4, 201350Lacking much in the way of character depth, the film attempts to fill the gap with melodrama.