Home 2008

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: The performers manage to overcome Meier's schematic framework-too "modern-day fairy tale" for its own good-though the director clearly knows which collaborators and elements to enlist for game-raising purposes. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Gradually the movie turns into an ironic assault on the inconvenient nature of civilization's conveniences. Read more

Janice Page, Boston Globe: Home is the engaging, darkly funny, surreal story of what happens when people who have thrived by keeping civilization at a safe distance suddenly find themselves pushed right back into its headlights. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: Though the cautionary symbolism is clear here, the committee-written film (there were five scribes including Meier), smartly keeps its message quotient in check. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: What happens would not make sense in many households, but in this one, it represents a certain continuity, and confirms deep currents we sensed almost from the first. Read more

Wally Hammond, Time Out: A first film of laudable ambition and Meier's directorial confidence suggests promise for the future. Read more

Rob Nelson, Variety: Director Ursula Meier generally distinguishes her feature debut by not pushing elements to melodramatic or farcical extremes. Read more

Variety: Read more

Aaron Hillis, Village Voice: Using cinema as self-therapy might be a selfish way to treat audiences, but Harden and Scheel's chemistry makes the mother-daughter dynamic universal. Read more

Andrew Schenker, Village Voice: Working with all-star DP Agnes Godard, Meier effectively communicates the sense of upended privacy. Read more