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Red Joan

2018

Trevor Nunn

Sophie Cookson, Judi Dench, Tom Hughes, Stephen Campbell Moore ...

5.7

2,519

Drama. Romance The story follows Joan (Dench), a retired physicist whose tranquil life is interrupted in 2000 by a visit from British secret service MI5. Cookson will play Joan in her younger days as a student at Cambridge University who falls in love with a committed communist and, later, finds her loyalty to her country tested while employed in the UK’s secret nuclear programme.

	Author	Review
United States	Dennis Harvey Variety	"Tweedy, dreary, and unconvincing (...) It’s dismaying that so little drama is wrung out of the tale, and that what we get too often feels like a cliché-riddled romantic pulp."	NEG
United States	Deborah Young The Hollywood Reporter	"A good old-fashioned British spy thriller, with a bewitching female heroine (or anti-heroine, if you will) played by the excellent actresses Judi Dench and (as her younger self) Sophie Cookson"	POS
United States	Jessica Kiang The Playlist	"[It] is so bland, and so stolidly workmanlike in execution that even the most dedicated viewer might find her attention sliding off DP Zac Nicholson‘s ration-book-colored images and wandering to the what-ifs."	NEG
United Kingdom	Pamela Hutchinson The Guardian	"A stodgy espionage drama that can’t disguise its mediocrity (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United Kingdom	Stephen Dalton The Times	"Dench lends emotional heft and nuance to her handful of scenes, but Red Joan is otherwise let down by leaden dialogue and one-note characters. (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United Kingdom	Wendy Ide Screendaily	"Solidly competent and, for the most part, well acted (...) The screenplay has some fun at the expense of the sexism of the era"	POS
United States	Kate Erbland IndieWire	"The result is a strange, bifurcated tale of love and espionage, with Judi Dench stuck in a thankless role that does nothing to capitalize on her talents."	NEG
United Kingdom	Jo-Anne Rowney Mirror	"[It] feels more sedate period piece than high stake drama (...) The film itself fails to really get off the ground or move past the usual tropes (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG

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