the performances carry the film and occasionally lift it beyond its kitchen-sink lower-depths doldrums
Review rate : Bby Peter Rainer[Christian Science Monitor ]
the film's shots are calm and composed, almost meditative; there are no canted camera angles or jangling cuts, and much of the violence occurs off-screen
the characters are trapped, suffocated, pushed through a story that gives them very little room or time to figure themselves out, and that finally turns their feelings into the wan stuff of fable
a warning flag for queasy viewers that things won't be pretty here, but those who stay just a bit longer come to see his immediate regret over the matter