85
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisCity of Life and Death isn't cathartic: it offers no uplifting moments, just the immodest balm of art. The horrors it represents can be almost too difficult to watch, yet you keep watching because Mr. Lu makes the case that you must.
- 90Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternThis is hardly a film to recommend as entertainment. As an act of remembrance, though, it is singular and, in its way, soaring.
- 88Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisHere the Japanese senses of honor and of shame are particularly entangled. Later in the film, Lu mounts an Imperial Army parade through the Nanking ruins. It's something to see.
- 88Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaPhiladelphia InquirerSteven ReaChuan's unsettlingly beautiful black-and-white, wide-screen account of those nightmare six weeks, re-creates that horror in ways that are at once allusive and lucid, mixing cinematic impressionism with documentary-like detail.
- 83The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe film never feels entirely staid: Lu wriggles out of convention where he can, especially in the first half, and engages with history as an artist, not a hagiographer.
- 83Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerDespite its blunt characterizations and simplifications, City of Life and Death, through the inexorable pileup of gruesome detail, achieves an epic vision of horror.
- 80EmpirePhil de SemlyenEmpirePhil de SemlyenPassionate and expertly crafted, this black-and-white opus is well worth seeking out.
- 75Washington PostMichael O'SullivanWashington PostMichael O'SullivanIt's a muscular, physical movie, pieced together from arresting imagery and revelatory gestures, large and small.
- 70Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanCity of Life and Death is far more convincing as a spectacle of mass atrocity than a drama of individual conscience.
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfThe movie skips along episodically; it's not quite as sharp as a war narrative needs to be, even if its nightmarish psychology feels spot-on.