Vanya On 42nd Street 1994

Janet Maslin, New York Times: The elegant understatement of this production turns it into a livelier experiment, a fluent, gripping version of one of Chekhov's more elusive plays. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Malle adeptly eases us into the play so we can't tell at what precise moment Chekhov takes over, an ambiguity that becomes the film's triumph as well as its key limitation. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's amazing it has taken Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, and director Louis Malle more than 10 years to collaborate again. It was worth the wait, though. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Vanya on 42nd Street may be the most innovative and successful straight film adaptation of any play. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A film which reduces Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" to its bare elements: loneliness, wasted lives, romantic hope and despair. To add elaborate sets, costumes and locations to this material would only dilute it. Read more

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: A lovely, intimate rethinking of Anton Chekhov's Russian classic Uncle Vanya. Read more

Time Out: There's more power here than in all the multi-million dollar fireworks of Hollywood. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: The performances are precise, the language is alive and well spoken and the setting is striking, but Vanya on 42nd Street still suffers rather heavily from the limitations of filmed theater. Read more

Hal Hinson, Washington Post: In terms of dramatic action, almost nothing happens, and yet Malle's fluid, invisible style carries us deep into the hearts and minds of these characters. Read more