Critic Reviews

• Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

  This is film noir at its noirest.

• Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

  A story of obsession, of the permanence of loss, of how deeds of the past haunt us, closing over our heads like water. It leaves you shivering, yet thrilled; waiting anxiously for this talented new filmmaker's next work.

• Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

  "The Silence" is framed as a multi-character police procedural, but like "Mystic River" and "Zodiac," its inquiries probe deeper and darker.

• Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic

  The most rewarding element in the picture is the performance of the first girl's mother by Katrin Sass, who gives us quietly and darkly what it is like to live with the memory of your child's murder.

• Peter Keough, Boston Globe

  "The Silence" is a victim of over-plotting, clunky narrative, gratuitous stylization, and too many points of view.

• J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

  Nicely paced but rotely characterized.

• Marc Mohan, Oregonian

  This stylish effort from director Baran bo Odar should please fans of Scandinavian crime dramas or the British "Red Riding" trilogy.

• Kelly Vance, East Bay Express

  Stunning performances and cinematography - too bad the plot machinations don't compare.

• Glenn Lovell, CinemaDope

  If you're in the mood for an offbeat police procedural, this should be on your must-see list ... Who would have thought something this unrelievedly grim could be, at its dark heart, about unrequited love?

• Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

  Its measured pacing whispers art while its lurid subject matter screams commerce.

• Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press

  How might criminals who get away with murder behave, the movie asks? Just like everyone else.

• Sarah Boslaugh, PopMatters

  ...part police procedural and part psychological study, with more than just genre thrills to offer.

• Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews

  ...an ambitious work that becomes fractured as all the story lines are laid out before us.

• Jonah Flicker, Paste Magazine

  In a field of clichéd psychological crime thrillers, The Silence stands out.

• Brian Tallerico, HollywoodChicago.com

  With echoes of "The Vanishing" and "Memories of Murder," Baran bo Odar's dread-filled "The Silence" is a character-based thriller that focuses more on the people wrapped up in its web of perversion and murder than the crimes themselves.

• Tony Medley, Tolucan Times

  This is a rare film that shows the murder and makes the audience feel the pain of the survivors, which is all to the good,...but it is unremittingly depressing.

• Gabe Toro, The Playlist

  Directed with sharp precision and maturity, deftly balancing a large cast and refusing to give in to the station-to-station procedural aspects of the story.

Read all 17 critic reviews