82
Metascore
6 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisWhat distinguishes Jesse’s story is the striking way that the writer-director Ricky D’Ambrose tells it — its ellipses, voice-over, visual precision and an emotional reserve that can feel like clinical detachment but is more rightly described as an aesthetic.
- 90The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenD’Ambrose’s drama is attuned to how much sensitive kids keep inside, watching and holding their breath while the adults convince themselves they’re not making a mess of things.
- 88Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenThe Cathedral is a deeply humanist film, but it’s also a relentlessly bleak exorcism of a family’s intolerances.
- 88RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyRogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyThe Cathedral marries form to content in a striking way.
- 75The Film StageJordan RaupThe Film StageJordan RaupIt’s an ambitious undertaking for an 87-minute film, and while this lofty aim can result in a few passages striking a bit broad, one comes away admiring D’Ambrose’s meticulously committed approach to storytelling.
- 60The New YorkerRichard BrodyThe New YorkerRichard BrodyWith the help of blankly matter-of-fact yet omniscient voice-over narration (spoken by Madeleine James), D’Ambrose achieves the span and the depth of a cinematic bildungsroman in shards of experience and epigrammatic flickers.