81
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100CineVueAlasdair BaymanCineVueAlasdair BaymanA symphony of cinema, Ray & Liz possesses an undeniable level of artistic expression on memory. Capturing space and time in a manner that only film can create in every single image there is a deep-rooted emotive quality.
- 91The Film StageRory O'ConnorThe Film StageRory O'ConnorIt’s an immersive poetic-realist dive into the artist’s fractured memories of his parents during the time he spent growing up in Birmingham in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
- 90Screen DailyAllan HunterScreen DailyAllan HunterIt is a striking, sustained artistic achievement, but one as painful and distressing to watch as it must have been to live through.
- 88Slant MagazineCarson LundSlant MagazineCarson LundRay & Liz generates pathos through its detailed attention to its characters' attempts to find permanence and meaning in a fundamentally unstable reality.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinThe Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinOne senses that Billingham is not always at ease with the narrative demands of filmmaking. But his startling eye for the common made strange is very visible here, and hard not to hope that he’ll make further forays into filmmaking after this very auspicious debut with a work that feels so close and true to his earlier material.
- 80Time OutTime OutArtist-turned-filmmaker Richard Billingham soaks his terrific debut in bleak authenticity and some gorgeous cinematography.
- 70The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyPerformed with absolute commitment by its cast (Justin Salinger and Ella Smith play the younger versions of the title characters), Ray & Liz is a quietly harrowing movie. Billingham risks tedium, though, in withholding anything like an inner life for any of its characters until the movie’s very end.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThe whole film is like an incomplete fragment, intriguing if frustrating.