|
New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Tears of the Black Tiger
Magnolia Pictures
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
Chartchai Ngamsan,
Suwinit Panjamawat,
Stella Malucchi,
Supakorn Kitsuwon,
Arawat Ruangvuth,
Sombat Metanee,
Pairoj Jaisingha,
and
Naiyana Sheewanun
Tears of the Black Tiger takes a journey back to a lost past -- the heroic years of Thai genre cinema, when influences from Hollywood and everywhere else were subsumed into rollicking Thai melodramas for an audience of avid fans. (Magnolia Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Comedy
|
Foreign
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Wisit Sasanatieng
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Wisit Sasanatieng
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 24, 2007
Theatrical: January 12, 2007
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
113 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Thailand |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
Thai (with English subtitles) |
Original title "Fah Talai Jone"
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
88
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
What do you get when you mix a Douglas Sirk melodrama with a Sergio Leone Western? Tears of the Black Tiger, a high-camp Western from, of all places, Thailand.
88
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
A parody of and winking homage to the history of Thai melodrama, Wisit Sasanatieng's uproarious filmmaking debut exuberantly combines pop and kitsch with a wholesome belief in the thrills of bad art.
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
It has a tendency to overextend its outrageous arias, but this pop-art confection both spoofs and celebrates the crazy conventions of movie melodramas and genre cinema with pure affection.
80
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
It is astonishing to realize that the highly confident Tears of the Black Tiger marks the directorial debut of Sasanatieng, after having written two movies hugely successful in Thailand, yet in truth he belongs to a long line of first-rate filmmakers who understand the wisdom of taking big chances the first time at bat.
80
Slate
Dana Stevens
Written and directed by Wisit Sasanatieng, a commercial director making his first feature film, Tears of the Black Tiger is a technical and aesthetic marvel.
80
Village Voice
Nathan Lee
Nothing is too crazed, corny, or freakishly florid for Tears of the Black Tiger. The debut of writer-director Wisit Sasanatieng is a delightfully unabashed affair, conceived in such good, giddy spirits it might have been called "Blissfully Yours."
78
Austin Chronicle
Marrit Ingman
If Tears is indeed too weird to take America by storm – Miramax bought the film after Cannes and shelved it until it is now being released by Magnolia – it should neither be considered a cult item, approachable only to film nerds (though they will appreciate it best).
75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
The result is something so old it's new, so corny it's funny. And while Tears of the Black Tiger is nothing more than entertaining, at least it's that.
75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Noel Murray
The movie is never going to have broad appeal. Though Sasanatieng makes a few swings at real poignancy--which don't really connect--mostly this is the kind of relentlessly postmodern "fun" best served in small portions, and preferably on dessert plates.
75
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Director Wisit Sasanatieng uses every trick imaginable to create surreal postmodern nostalgia. Has he wound up with pure camp, or a cult classic? As he clearly understands, the best B-movies are both.
75
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
A delirious fever dream of pulp-western conventions by way of 1950s Hollywood melodrama, Thai filmmaker Wisit Sasanatieng surreal oddity unfolds in heavily manipulated colors so rich they seem ready to leap off the screen, punctuated by spasms of over-ripe dialogue, floridly dramatic songs and maniacal villainous laughter.
70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
This is a scrapbook, a happy jumble, of many of the things we instinctively respond to in movies: color, shape, sound and movement, all intensified by heightened emotion.
70
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
The intoxicating madness of Tears of the Black Tiger is in the end too willed, too deliberate, to be entirely divine.
70
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
A jaw-dropper: a delirium-inducing crash course in international trash.
70
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Its giddy stylistics include extravagant use of color and rapid montage, which are said to be a direct homage to legendary Thai independent Ratana Pestonji.
70
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
The movie alternates between cornball and ridiculous, and the frequent violence is extremely bloody if stylized. Love it or hate it, and I'm not sure which applies to me, you've never seen and never will see anything quite like Tears of the Black Tiger.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Ruthe Stein
The movie is one big in-joke. It's watchable, but eventually wears you down with its over-the-top cleverness.
50
Variety
Ken Eisner
Fun, if finally too silly.
25
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A few more films like Tears of the Black Tiger, and kitsch will be on its way to having a bad name.
 The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|
