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Vengo
Metascore
64 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17
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  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    90
    It is best to let this stunning film simply wash over you and trust that all will become clear enough in time. Vengo in a sense is a concert film tied together with the slenderest of plots.
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    80
    Gatlif's latest celebration of gypsy soul, sets a modest sliver of narrative in a fabulous widescreen landscape and surrounds it with a permanent party.
  3. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    80
    Feels like a song you may have heard before, but one whose aching beauty makes it endlessly listenable.
  4. New Times (L.A.)
    Reviewed by: Gregory Weinkauf
    80
    There's just no arguing with 12 centuries of flamenco, and, in this sensuous movie, no resisting it.
  5. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Lisa Alspector
    80
    Elegant flamenco tragedy.
  6. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    78
    There's a deep, bone-weary melancholy to the proceedings, offset by the mad parties and vicious displays of machismo.
  7. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    75
    Characteristically lacking in narrative -- but what it misses in traditional plot devices, it more than makes up for in passion.
  8. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Loren King
    75
    Presents a darkly realistic yet seductive world, with music as the tie that binds.
    All this publication's reviews
  9. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
    70
    On its own, the story is tepid, and less than original. What draws us in is the way in which Gatlif sets it against a rich Andalusian backdrop.
  10. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Stratton
    70
    Music has always played a vital role in the films of Tony Gatlif, and in Vengo it finally threatens to take over, submerging the frail, familiar vendetta plotline.
  11. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Patrick Z. McGavin
    63
    Filled with dazzling moments, Vengo never quite reaches the heights those moments promise.
  12. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Merle Bertrand
    60
    A musical feast for eyes and ears alike.
  13. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Bob Graham
    50
    There may be no more unusual movie around than Vengo.
  14. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    40
    All that this really amounts to is a lot of hot-headed, hairy men threatening each other -- whenever they're not dancing on table tops, that is.
    All this critic's reviews
  15. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Stephen Miller
    40
    The non-professional actors do their schmaltzy best with Gatlif and co-writer David Trueba's sparse dialogue and what appears to have been Gatlif's very limited direction.
  16. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dave Kehr
    40
    Seems held back by vestiges of an old-fashioned format that Mr. Gatlif has long since outgrown.
  17. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Foreman
    38
    Neither convincing nor remotely dramatic.
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