71
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldThe Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldFilmed with great respect and palpable love for its subject, Big Sonia is one of those documentaries that seems to bring its own light — just like the woman at its center.
- 80Village VoiceChris PackhamVillage VoiceChris PackhamThe loose structure is bound by a thread of motherhood. Sonia’s children, two daughters and a son, are lively, intelligent, and deeply affected by their parents’ trauma.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenKey to the strength of Big Sonia is its refusal to give in to easy bromides. Its use of animation to illustrate Sonia’s memories spins off her own artful drawings in a way that amps the sense of unspeakable horror rather than sugarcoating it.
- 75Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreThe animation is the one novel element to this, a familiar sort of film on a most familiar subject. But the movie lets its subject — Sonia — be its strength, and if you’ve ever had the privilege of meeting a survivor willing to talk about what they experienced, you know how smart that decision was.
- 75Slant MagazineDerek SmithSlant MagazineDerek SmithCinema has rarely mined the consequences of being a child of a Holocaust survivor and Big Sonia adeptly explores how, in many cases, losing much of one's family led many survivors to put undue pressures on their future children.
- 70Los Angeles TimesMichael RechtshaffenLos Angeles TimesMichael RechtshaffenSeeing Sonia confidently gripping the leopard print-covered steering wheel of her late model Oldsmobile and getting on with her day serves as a potent and especially timely lesson about living a compassionate, vibrant life that doesn’t have any room for hatred and bitterness.
- 63RogerEbert.comNick AllenRogerEbert.comNick AllenFeeling like a director’s cut that would play best for people who already know her, Big Sonia is a feature that could have very likely made a deeper impact with the succinctness of a short film.
- 50The New York TimesTeo BugbeeThe New York TimesTeo BugbeeSonia is a powerful subject, but Big Sonia brings little perspective to her story.