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Sundown

2021

Michel Franco

Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios, Henry Goodman ...

6.2

1,555

Drama Alice and Neil Bennett are the core of a wealthy British family on vacation in Acapulco with younger members Colin and Alexa until a distant emergency cuts their trip short. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, surprising tensions rise to the fore.

	Author	Review
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"The high-minded director’s most successful film to date, conceptually speaking, 'Sundown' is an intricate, unconventional puzzle"	POS
United States	David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter	"Despite the dark tingle of suspense running through the story, its protagonist remains remote (...) Of all the director’s films to date, this might be the most airless"	NEU
United Kingdom	Lee Marshall Screendaily	"It’s at its best when being infuriatingly reticent, and at its weakest when forced to offer some sort of explanation (...) [It] juggles several themes (...) without really tying any of them up"	NEU
United Kingdom	Xan Brooks The Guardian	"Brilliant (...) What an extraordinary performance Tim Roth gives us here (…) [Sundown] It’s pitiless and pitch-perfect, an existential tour-de-force (....) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Jason Solomons The Wrap	"'Sundown' is only a short film, just about making it over 80 minutes, every second of which manages to be simultaneously riveting and banal. Yet its intensity burns like the sun which makes Neil’s skin blister"	NEU
United States	Nicholas Barber IndieWire	"One of the pleasures of 'Sundown' is that it is impossible to guess where it is heading — and it heads in some bizarre directions"	POS
United States	Jason Solomons The Wrap	"Riveting and banal (...) Franco is scratching away at the surface, making the sort of movie you come away from with questions, wondering if you'd blinked and missed something"	NEU
Canada	Kurt Halfyard Screen Anarchy	"In this day and age, where so many films needlessly dart and dash past the two-hour mark, Franco shows that the infinite is possible in a mere 82 minutes"	POS
United States	Matt Zoller Seitz rogerebert.com	"Even as the movie takes a slight turn into surrealism in its final third, the sum is slight and obscure. At least the running time is brief, and the movie has the good sense to cast Tim Roth (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	NEU
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"Tim Roth is perfectly cast as Neil. Throughout his acting career, [he] has excelled at portraying opaque characters whose true motivations are hidden (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Josh Kupecki Austin Chronicle	"Roth's performance is utterly absorbing (...) The trouble is, once 'Sundown' reveals the mystery of Neil's unmoored behavior, the film loses the resonance it has patiently spent its time accruing (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Leila Latif AV Club	"'Sundown' has more substance, and a more intriguing premise, than most of Franco's proudly sadistic work (...) Rather than respectfully end his relationship with the audience, Franco just stops picking up the phone"	NEU
United States	Chris Barsanti Slant	"The film leaves the viewer with the impression of a man trying to beat the entropic decay that surrounds him to the punch (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United States	Robert Abele Los Angeles Times	"Tim Roth excels at quiet intensity (...) Taut, confidently unsettling film"	POS
United States	Carlos Aguilar The Playlist	"'Sundown' doesn't subvert what we've come to expect from Franco's work, but it is still a distinctively cerebral rumination"	NEU
Canada	Ferdosa Abdi Screen Rant	"Michel Franco's 'Sundown feels' hollow and too nihilistic for its own good. As it winds down, one is left wondering what is the purpose. What is Franco attempting to have viewers think and feel? (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 5)"	NEU
	Marta Bałaga Cineuropa	"[It] feels like a prelude to something much bigger and ultimately remains unfulfilling, like a prestigious short suddenly stretched to its very limits."	NEG

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