Critic Reviews

• Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

  A tender and moving drama that deserves wider exposure.

• V.A. Musetto, New York Post

  Hard Goodbyes could easily have been maudlin, but isn't. Credit an adult script and realistic acting, especially by Giorgos Karayannis as Elias.

• Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

  Panayotopoulou does handle the material with sensitivity, but she relies too much on her young hero's unlikely precocity, which unwittingly diminishes the intensity of a child's very real grief.

• Laura Kern, New York Times

  Considering the delicate and weighty subject matter, the film's tone is surprisingly light, sometimes even humorous, which helps to balance the harsh sentiments that death inevitably brings.

• R. Emmet Sweeney, Village Voice

  A tender Greek drama documenting a child's disbelief in the face of his father's death.

• Tom Keogh, Seattle Times

  About nothing so much as a soulful kid's first encounter with the most literal and poetic meanings of the word 'gone.'

• Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

  Goes from being appropriately child-like to simply childish.

• Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)

  Panayotopoulou's story has the ring of autobiographical truth, getting the details of the period and of childhood in general right at every turn.

• Bill White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

  A sublimely subjective journey from denial to acceptance as a 10-year-old boy comes to terms with the finality of death.

• Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

  Begins to take on an allegorical, global feel.

• Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

  Greek director-writer Penny Panayotopoulou's compelling debut feature is a psychological drama about an Athenian family dealing with grief.

• Marty Mapes, Movie Habit

  Not perfect, exciting, fresh, but well crafted, well acted, and very well directed

• Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

  ...has about it the whiff of autobiography, given the specificity of the details and the odd, enchanting drift from an initial tone of social realism toward fantasy.

• Mark Sells, Film Threat

  With soft heartedness and beautiful imagery, the film aptly captures the feeling of disbelief and aversion that hits children in a time of loss.

• Betty Jo Tucker, ReelTalk Movie Reviews

  Youngster Giorgos Karayannis is a marvel in this touching Greek drama about a son's devotion to his father.

• Marc Mohan, Oregonian

  It features an endearing, mature performance from its juvenile lead.

• Mark Sells, Oregon Herald

  Aptly captures the feeling of disbelief and aversion that hits children in a time of loss.

Read all 17 critic reviews