Driveways
FilmRise | Release Date (Streaming): May 7, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 7, 2020
It’s dumb to measure the worth of anything by its ability to make you cry, but by the end of Driveways the feelings of the characters spill over into your own experience of watching a small, very quiet, very powerful 83-minute short story of a movie. Read full review
100
VoxAlissa WilkinsonMay 7, 2020
Driveways is surprising at every turn. It’s a modest and gentle story about a boy who feels out of place, and the weak ties he forms that gradually become strong ones. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonApr 30, 2020
On its own, Driveways would be a sweet, understated masterpiece, simply told, of human connection. But with the death of longtime distinguished stage and movie actor Brian Dennehy on April 15, director Andrew Ahn allows us to say a proper goodbye to the big fella, who gets the final six minutes of the movie all to himself. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMay 8, 2020
It builds a deeply moving emotional journey out of the simplest, most mundane elements. By the end, almost nothing has happened, and yet you’re a wreck. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMay 6, 2020
Driveways, a movie that’s poignant now for reasons we doubtless wish it weren’t, shows us how unlikely people can come together under imperfect circumstances and fit together perfectly. It also shows us how fleeting that perfection can be. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comNick AllenMay 7, 2020
This is a movie that’s impressively, if not stubbornly understated, where life stories come from select bits of precise dialogue, with lovingly rendered characters put into a collection of scenes that simply allow us to live with them. Read full review
88
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMay 6, 2020
If you want to celebrate the life of legendary actor Brian Dennehy, who died last month at age 81, start with one of his final films: Driveways. His performance as a widowed veteran is right up there with his finest screen work, which makes his passing all the sadder. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 6, 2020
Dennehy had completed two more films before dying, at 81, on April 15, but Driveways is coming out on streaming platforms closest to his passing and it is the one to raise a glass to and maybe shed a tear over. Read full review
85
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiFeb 14, 2019
What a delightful discovery this movie is, and what an incredible collection of impeccable performances. Ahn’s film finds the drama in the intentionally quiet life of introverts and lulls his audience into peaceful, wise, contented security. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneDavid FearMay 14, 2020
The director’s sophomore feature brims with so many tender mercies, so many quietly observed moments, that even its light touch leaves a mark. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMay 7, 2020
Slow and sweet and unassuming, Driveways, the second feature from the Korean-American director Andrew Ahn, tackles major themes in a minor key. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberFeb 14, 2019
The filmmakers never underline the emotions they want to evoke, and yet by the end, audiences may be moved to tears by this tale of fractured lives that find just the right measure of repair. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMay 8, 2020
A gentle, almost willfully recessive story about love and loss and all the ways that people find to share the burden of them both, one unhurried day at a time. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineDerek SmithMay 3, 2020
The film’s devotion to the belief that kindness can be a balm for almost any hurt is deeply moving. Read full review
70
Film ThreatLorry KiktaMay 8, 2020
Driveways is short but effective. It’s more about mood than the overall plot. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeMar 8, 2019
That uncommon and all-too-welcome gift — like some kind of fragile wildflower, emerging tentatively through cracks in the concrete: a film about kindness. Read full review
70
Screen DailyStephen Whitty Feb 14, 2019
With authentic spaces like this around them, Ahn’s actors relax into the realism. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerApr 27, 2020
What Dennehy grasped was people - what made them tick. His performances were never one-note, but understood that joy, grief, and and oft-ignored emotions like resignation could all be contained with in a character. He was a big man, but he could keep his performances small, and so it's fitting that one of his final performances, Driveways, is so tiny and fragile that you'll feel like it can fit into your hands. Read full review
67
IndieWireJude DryFeb 14, 2019
Without a singular galvanizing conflict to focus the plot, Driveways feels more like a collection of character studies than a cohesive whole. Read full review
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