Café de flore 2011

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Feels less like a movie than like a cinematic jigsaw puzzle whose agitation undermines the very continuity it wants to portray. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: A forgettable film. Read more

Neil Young, Hollywood Reporter: Decade-hopping metaphysical romance descends into overwrought histrionics. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: It's terribly long and repetitive for so delicately dreamy a diptych, and at times the modern-day story feels like little more than a drawn-out apologia for the wandering male gaze. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: This is a gorgeous, flashy, widescreen epic, like Boogie Nights or Casino, about the most essential things in life: Family, friends and love. But most of all, love. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Goes from intriguing to irritating. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The film commands our attention again as more connections emerge -- not enough to fully solve the mystery, but sufficient to convince us that Cafe de Flore amounts to more than the triumph of style over substance. Read more

Guy Dixon, Globe and Mail: Simply a beautiful, intricate film. Read more

Mary Corliss, TIME Magazine: The film is generous to all its besotted creatures, and to the audience as well. Viewers who fall in love with Cafe de Flore will find that it loves them back. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Whatever its flaws, in the moment this is one to set the film-lover's pulse racing. Read more

Eric Hynes, Time Out: The film's delicately curated textures are flushed down the toilet of narrative contrivance. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Cafe de flore leaves you wrestling with your emotions, not sure of how to react. Read more

Boyd van Hoeij, Variety: [A] loose-limbed, emotionally complex work. Read more

Brian Miller, Village Voice: This mushy, mystical French-Canadian melodrama tries to make parallel a pair of love stories: one between preteens with Down syndrome in 1969 Paris, and the second between a Quebecois DJ and his new amour some 40 years later. Read more