66
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Film ThreatFilm ThreatPart of what makes the film engaging is the carefully nuanced performances Panayotopoulou gets from her actors. In particular, Giorgos Karayannis.
- 75Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonLike the moving 1999 American "A Walk on the Moon," with Diane Lane and Viggo Mortensen, Hard Goodbyes juxtaposes a family crisis with the excitement of the period before and during Neil Armstrong's 1969 moonwalk.
- 75Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill WhiteSeattle Post-IntelligencerBill WhitePanayotopoulou casts a transcendent eye upon her downbeat subject matter, never dodging the unsentimental truth that growing up is about learning to live with the loss of those things we have loved.
- 70VarietyDerek ElleyVarietyDerek ElleyAn involving family drama about a young boy's dreams and personal loss, Hard Goodbyes: My Father brings a light touch -- and a full measure of unaffected charm -- to potentially downbeat material.
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceA tender Greek drama.
- Considering the delicate and weighty subject matter, the film's tone is surprisingly light, sometimes even humorous, which helps to balance the harsh sentiments that death inevitably brings.
- 63New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanPanayotopoulou does handle the material with sensitivity, but she relies too much on her young hero's unlikely precocity, which unwittingly diminishes the intensity of a child's very real grief.
- 60The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsPanayotopoulou's background in photography shows in the way she lets her chiaroscuro lighting mirror her characters' emotions. It also shows in the still-life quality that Hard Goodbyes never quite gets beyond.
- 50Chicago ReaderChicago ReaderFirst-time director Penny Panayotopoulou's approach to the delicate subject matter is commendably tactful and tasteful--it's also underdramatized, monotonous, and short on humor.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleJohn McMurtrieSan Francisco ChronicleJohn McMurtrieA tender, gently paced coming-of-age movie whose strength is its young lead actor.