A sweeping multigenerational story set against the backdrop of the raw, roaring New York City of the late 1980s; adoption, teen pregnancy, drugs, hardcore punk rock, the unbridled optimism and reckless stupidity of the young—and old—are all major elements in this heart-aching tale of the son of diehard hippies and his strange odyssey through the extremes of late 20th century youth culture.
Jude, our narrator, is paper thin. His most memorable qualities are his gangly frame and his bright blue eyes.
– Stephanie Merry,
Washington Post,
20 Aug 2015
rotten:
The film shows all the earmarks of a story too heavily compressed; the complications among the entwined families pile up after a while, and the period milieu feels arbitrary.
– J. R. Jones,
Chicago Reader,
20 Aug 2015
fresh:
For a movie with extremely loud punk-rock music at its core, "Ten Thousand Saints" is a pleasantly low-key experience; it's a small-scale character drama about learning to live with loss.