67
Metascore
31 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertA Late Quartet does one of the most interesting things any film can do. It shows how skilled professionals work.
- 83The A.V. ClubSam AdamsThe A.V. ClubSam AdamsYaron Zilberman's first feature has a solid structure, but as with a piece of music, the way it's played makes all the difference. His principal actors aren't great at faking their instrumental prowess, but they're perfectly in tune with each other, playing artists who've postponed life's decisions in the name of pursuing their craft.
- 70VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangCentered around four outstanding performances, Yaron Zilberman's fiction-feature debut feels like the work of a filmmaker who knows and appreciates the art form under scrutiny, laying a credible foundation for a story that lays bare the often melodramatic passions of the artistic soul.
- 63ObserverRex ReedObserverRex ReedPlaying the cello is such a pleasant change of pace that he (Walken) eventually grows on you, scene by scene, proving for the first time since his role as Leonardo DiCaprio's troubled father 10 years ago in "Catch Me If You Can," that he really can act. He - along with the rest of the elegant cast - keeps A Late Quartet in tune when it threatens to go flat.
- The film mines both the relationship issues and the Upper East Side neighborhoods of Woody Allen's best work, but could use an added dose of the Woodster's jokes to spruce up a self-serious scenario that hits the right notes about half the time.
- 60Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichThe four leads more often than not transcend the material's calculated moroseness; Ivanir is especially good as a man whose perfectionist facade masks a soul in perpetual turmoil.
- 50The PlaylistKevin JagernauthThe PlaylistKevin JagernauthThe trio (Hoffman/Keener/Walken) give top shelf performances as we've always come to expect from them in A Late Quartet. But it's just too bad that they're in service of Yaron Zilberman's film, which takes the unique focus of a string quartet in Manhattan, and puts it in the middle of a standard and unsatisfying soap opera, that spins off into one subplot too many.
- 50The New YorkerDavid DenbyThe New YorkerDavid DenbyThe scenes of the musicians rehearsing or talking about music, with the actors playing parts of Opus 131 themselves (the longer stretches are played by the Brentano Quartet), are fascinating and moving for anyone who loves this music; the rest of the movie is conventional.
- 50Slant MagazineSlant MagazineA muted soap opera masquerading as erudite ensemble piece, Yaron Zilberman's A Late Quartet jettisons character plausibility in favor of pop psychology and leaden instrument analogies.