73
Metascore
22 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Chandler LevackThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Chandler LevackThanks to the specificity of Richardson’s performance in particular and Giles Nuttgen’s gorgeous cinematography (the movie is shot on 35 mm), Montana Story evokes a grandiose style of American frontier filmmaking, somewhere between John Ford and Kelly Reichardt. See it on the largest screen you can find.
- 83The A.V. ClubMark KeizerThe A.V. ClubMark KeizerThis is a deeply felt work anchored by two earthy performances that stay small-scaled no matter how melodramatic the slowly revealed secrets become.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThis is a minor-key modern Western whose melancholy probe into the bruising past gives way, in a quietly satisfying conclusion, to the hope of reconciliation, even healing.
- 80Screen DailyTim GriersonScreen DailyTim GriersonHaley Lu Richardson and Owen Teague are both excellent at conveying everything that remains unsaid between these estranged siblings, eschewing melodramatic flourishes for stoic insights.
- 80Los Angeles TimesCarlos AguilarLos Angeles TimesCarlos AguilarWhile the events that transpire are minimal, the poignancy of “Montana Story” resides in watching these two strangers, once inseparable, reconnect now as different people but with the same scars.
- 75IndieWireRobert DanielsIndieWireRobert DanielsMontana Story doesn’t reinvent the Western wheel. Rather it offers tender mercies as a sentimental work that explodes in well-earned fury.
- 70Film ThreatAlan NgFilm ThreatAlan NgMontana Story is a solid film set on a standard story structure.
- 70The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisWhen Montana Story works, you are effortlessly drawn into a world — which allows you to go with the easygoing, realist groove — even as you’re taking stock of the artifice and waiting for the hammer to fall.
- 67The PlaylistGregory EllwoodThe PlaylistGregory EllwoodIt’s a subtle and poignant performance that makes you eager for Richardson to have an even bigger spotlight in he next endeavor.
- 50Slant MagazineJake ColeSlant MagazineJake ColeThe film is initially distinguished by its poetic understatement, only for it to eventually succumb to staleness.