65
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlSutton's Memphis framed in fascinating layers -- leaves and tree limbs, wig shops and overgrown gravel roads. It's a movie of a place and a character rather than about them.
- 80VarietyRob NelsonVarietyRob NelsonA digressive, daringly experimental study of a flailing musician, magnetically played by accomplished bluesman and poet Willis Earl Beal.
- 75Slant MagazineClayton DillardSlant MagazineClayton DillardThe film's music is the city itself as well as a subtle suggestion that Tim Sutton's own digital cinema is just as elusive and intangible as Willis's unwavering sense of dissatisfaction.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweThe Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweObscure, lyrical and exhibiting a far more European sensibility than even many American indies, Tim Sutton’s second feature is suffused with deep thoughts and emotions, but demands patience.
- 70SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirCan I tell you exactly what happens in Memphis, or what it’s “about”? Absolutely not. But it worked its magic on me, and its meaning is something I take on faith.
- 67The A.V. ClubVadim RizovThe A.V. ClubVadim RizovConstantly just dodging visual cliché, Sutton tries to isolate moments of beauty and frustration within a specific milieu. Sometimes he captures resonant moments in bars and in stray dialogue; other times, his purposelessness seems less like a strategy and more like an evasive feint.
- 60CineVueJohn BleasdaleCineVueJohn BleasdaleUltimately, Memphis is a bold and bewildering conjuring act, that might mean nothing at all, but the sleight of hand is worth the price of admission.
- 60The DissolveNoel MurrayThe DissolveNoel MurrayWhile Memphis is similar in style and in assurance to the lower-ambition Pavilion, it reaches toward something it can’t fully grasp.
- 50New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithOnly intermittently does the film treat us to more than snippets of Beal’s woozy, misshapen folk-blues, but perhaps these are best taken in small doses anyway.
- 40Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichThe filmmaker’s second feature is an unfortunate sophomore slump, an abrasive and opaque artist-in-crisis story that feels protracted at barely 80 minutes.