71
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIt is a first film by a young British director who exhibits in every scene a complete mastery of the kind of characterization he is attempting. This film is a masterpiece, plain and simple, and that is a statement I doubt I will ever have cause to revise.
- 80The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe ability to find performers who never seem for a moment to be performing is also here, giving Bleak Moments, like all of Leigh's films, an almost voyeuristic feel.
- 80A film with downbeat themes of solitude, difficulties of communication, coping with a retarded 29-year-old sister, it has enough human insight sans mawkishness or undue sentimentality to make it wryly funny, with its recognition of human foibles that gives it an edge, charm and warmth, tempered with compassion.
- Portraying an instantly recognisable reality with a raw, utterly uncompromising intensity.
- 60EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanDownright depressing.
- 50The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinThe best that can be said for Bleak Moments is that it earns its name. The film, while it has been handsomely photographed, seems entirely given over to pained, wordless interludes. [23 Sep 1980, p.C6]
- 50TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineGood direction and fine performances keep the pace of this lengthy film moving and prevent the material's descent into maudlin sentimentality.