Simon Magus (2000)

Critic Reviews

• Wesley Morris, San Francisco Chronicle

  The villain sneers, and someone in the film- score department is banging a timpani in slow motion, meaning there's probably tragedy around the corner, but things are too earnest and sleepy to be sure.

• Loren King, Boston Globe

  An odd but original, at times even poetic, film about a vanished world.

• David Germain, Associated Press

  Beautifully shot and lyrically told, Simon Magus is a beguiling study in contrasts, good and evil, darkness and light, hope and despair, joy and melancholy.

• Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

  The more I think about Simon Magus, the less I'm sure what it's trying to say.

• Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune

  Hopkins shows masterful skill in shaping Simon's reality and unreality in this engrossing, suspenseful morality play.

• Stephen Holden, New York Times

  Reasonably diverting, but the story never matches the movie's fantastic visual imagination.

• Kelly Vance, East Bay Express

  Presents a fairy-tale Eastern Europe glimpsed from far off through the telescope of melancholy nostalgia.

• Luke Y. Thompson, New Times

  A little too proud of its own eccentricities, often at the expense of the story.

• Eric Lurio, Greenwich Village Gazette

  Think of it as: "Fiddler on the Roof" as soap opera.

• Sian Kirwan, BBC

  Full of magic and fantasy with an interesting mix of eccentric and complex characters.

• , E! Online

  The final montage sequence is exquisite, marking the emergence of an unusual and brilliant visual stylist.

• Angie Errigo, Empire Magazine

  A striking feature debut with a creditable stab at magical realism.

• Laura Kelly, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

  A wonderfully intense emotional experience.

• Tor Thorsen, Reel.com

  A muddled work, neither truly scary nor compelling.

• Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

  Can't decide if it wants to be a fairy tale, a parable, or magical realism.

Read all 15 critic reviews