Aberdeen

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

It could have done with fewer plot devices, but it is ultimately far more satisfying than countless less ambitious and risky films.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

It is difficult to watch, but it's also impossible to take your eyes off the screen. It does not blench at the things that Hollywood routinely blenches at: substance abuse, dying, family dysfunction, love.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Sumptuously hued in its emotional and visual tones, this drama is also a fairy tale, its plot contrivances beautifully justified by its minimalism.

Village Voice Leslie Camhi

Norway's hallucinatory, edge-of-the-world beauty imbues the story with a woozy, alcoholic haze and a sense of the marginal spaces into which the messiest aspects of private life are shoved.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

A film of rare beauty, lifted by some of the best acting you may see in any film this year.

Boston Globe Loren King

It is an uncompromising family tale, one that's dark but lyrical and moving in its rendering of the ties that bind even the most dysfunctional families, despite valiant efforts to destroy them.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's clean and transparent, with no movie director tricks. The characters, not the montages, speak the loudest.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Skarsgard and Headey deliver perfectly meshed lead performances in a small, beautifully acted film that will make you squirm.

Variety Eddie Cockrell

A humanistic, warts-and-all battle of wills between a dissolute father and an emotionally ravaged daughter.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

Writer-director Hans Petter Moland (The Last Lieutenant, Zero Kelvin) has a fine eye for landscapes, but an even surer touch with actors.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Intelligent, moving and often beautifully photographed, Aberdeen boasts superb performances.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A journey that goes from prosaic to existential. Director Hans Petter Moland's raw drama of father-daughter reconciliation features an excellent cast.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

In the end, grips us precisely because its actors are so utterly absorbed in their roles, so unfettered and nakedly expressive. This is the kind of acting we always look for, but rarely see.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Behind the narrative twists and contrived dramatic complications is a searing and scary look at dysfunction.

New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein

Headey, Skarsgård and Rampling flesh these people out marvelously, bringing them fully to life. It's almost a pity: The more real they become, the less pleasant is the time we spend with them.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The characters, irritating as they can be at first, grow on you as they grow up.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It's a raw, haunting experience.