84
Metascore
29 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittKaurismaki is Finland's greatest filmmaker, and never has he more artfully balanced his patented blend of deadpan humor, low-key melodrama, and toe-tapping music.
- 90SlateDavid EdelsteinSlateDavid EdelsteinThe revered Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki has hit on a way to give you grim social realism and movie-ish sentimentality in one fell swoop.
- 90The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensLike the great films of the 1930's and early 40's, it is at once artful and unpretentious, sophisticated and completely accessible, sure of its own authority and generous toward characters and audience alike -- a movie whose intended public is the human race.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAt the end of The Man Without a Past, I felt a deep but indefinable contentment. I'd seen a comedy that found its humor in the paradoxes of existence, in the way that things may work out strangely, but they do work out.
- 88Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaPhiladelphia InquirerSteven ReaA dour-faced but sublime comedy about the kindness of strangers -- and about the strangeness of people who find themselves in oddball moments of grace.
- 83Portland OregonianShawn LevyPortland OregonianShawn LevySomething in the simplicity of its vision gives The Man Without a Past a dimension of heroic grandeur -- and that effect, too, seems to tickle Kaurismaki's funny bone.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThe Man Without a Past is a modern fairy tale. It certainly is divorced from reality. Despite this -– or perhaps because of it -– it's a satisfying motion picture.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannSan Francisco ChronicleEdward GuthmannA master of minimalism, Finland's Aki Kaurismaki makes films that are so dry, so delicately ironic that they seem on the verge of crumbling in front of us -- but they never do.
- 70Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanThis may not be Kaurismäki's masterpiece, but it is a movie of sustained stylistic integrity -- and it has the power to make you laugh.
- 70TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxWarm and utterly beguiling fable.