74
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleAbsorbing and exquisite.
- 91Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanA singular and haunting experience.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckA fascinating examination of a mysterious life and the truly bizarre art that it spawned.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoYu presents a compelling, somewhat disturbing portrait of the artist, who in 2000 was the subject of a major exhibit that toured the world.
- 70Village VoiceEd ParkVillage VoiceEd ParkJessica Yu's elegant new doc In the Realms of the Unreal is a spry, creative response to his (Darger's) oceanic talent and claustrophobic life.
- 60VarietyJoe LeydonVarietyJoe LeydonDocumentarian Jessica Yu employs everything from animation and voiceover thesping to archival documents and eyewitness accounts while examining Henry Darger, a self-taught artist who has been posthumously lionized as a visionary genius.
- 60The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayIn the end, it all gets to be too stifling. The film looks amazing, and there may be no better way to adapt Darger's work to the screen. But Yu's decision to limit the comments on Darger's enduring appeal keeps the audience locked in his cramped room too long, without a window of context.
- 50New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami BernardEven without much in the way of hard facts, Yu makes intuitive leaps, using animated segments to bring to life Darger's work, and therefore the man - or as much of him as it is possible to fathom.