1921 New York. An immigrant woman is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being held in the confines of Ellis Island.
An astonishingly beautiful, irresistibly grim movie ...
– G. Allen Johnson,
San Francisco Chronicle,
29 May 2014
fresh:
At times, Khondji's golden portraiture can make the characters seem encased in amber. But there's a tremendous payoff for the patient.
– Peter Howell,
Toronto Star,
5 Jun 2014
fresh:
Gray's movie is an almost flawlessly articulated example of the kind of thing we like to say they just don't make any more: serious, adult, character-driven and impassioned.
– Geoff Pevere,
Globe and Mail,
6 Jun 2014
fresh:
The film is an achievement. Its complex reckoning of moral decency deserves a bigger audience.
– Wesley Morris,
Grantland,
11 Jun 2014
fresh:
The physical look of the movie is a revelation of a lost past.