This is not really sure what it wants to be, an out-an-out thriller or a character portrait, but it exels at both in parts.
Comment
05/28/09
Julia (2008)
72
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:47
Fresh:34
Rotten:13
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Tilda Swinton delivers a powerful performance in Julia, a tense thriller and a dark character study.
Theatrical Release:05-12-2008
Synopsis: Tilda Swinton stars in this intense drama as Julia, an aging alcoholic who spends her nights drinking in the company of strangers, and her days making excuses for herself. Beginning in a sleek Los... [More]
Starring: Tilda Swinton, Saul Rubinek, Kate Del Castillo, Aidan Gould
Director: Erick Zonca
Reviews for Julia
Top CriticIt’s the slow burn of Swinton’s idiosyncratic but engrossing interpretation of this unlikely heroine that holds the movie together and provides an end result that is both affecting and teasingly different.
12/05/08
Top CriticTilda Swinton gives a committed and courageously unsympathetic performance as the self-serving Julia, but this is a character with whom you would rather spend as little time as possible – and certainly not the endurance-testing running time.
12/05/08
Top CriticZonca has put together an ambitious and forthright story, but Swinton's contribution looks more like an actressy impersonation than a performance, and indeed Zonca's film itself looks like a European facsimile of Americana.
12/05/08
Top CriticWeighing in at 140 minutes, it's a long, often difficult watch, but made compelling by Swinton's tour-de-force and some solid support, particularly Saul Rubinek as her sympathetic ex-boyfriend.
12/05/08
If the script had been half as powerful as Swinton, this could have been special.
12/05/08
Unfortunately the Cassevetes-style film needed Cassavetes to make it. Zonca, essaying a pell-mell verismo, produces something resembling Gloria mugged by A Woman Under the Influence.
12/05/08
Swinton's Julia is one of those performances that goes so far in repelling audience sympathy that it comes out the other side looking almost admirable.
12/05/08
Julia, by and large, is a tale of desperate opportunists, fugitive souls who survive by living on their wits, taking risks and making it up as they go along. It sometimes feels that a similar person is behind the camera as well as in front of it.
12/05/08
Gripping, tense and often wildly unpredictable thriller, superbly directed by Erick Zonca and featuring a ferocious central performance from Tilda Swinton.
12/05/08
It is no easier to warm to Zonca's film than to its central character - but it is impossible to take your eyes off either. Amoral, at times brutal, and full of surprises...
11/27/08
Top CriticClick to read the article
09/08/09
Charles Bukowski would have loved this foul-mouthed, fiery, reckless woman. Against all odds and common sense, you will, too.
08/27/09
The plot is over-the-top, but Swinton makes you stay with the film long after the writer/director loses credibility.
08/18/09
I salute the film's bravery for rushing off at full force on its own stream-of-consciousness logic, but for me, I found the final stages perhaps a tad too far-fetched.
08/11/09
I recommend going to see it, but don't blame me when you feel like you've downed a fifth of vodka afterwards.
07/11/09
In a sense, it goes to all the places a sensitive character study might have gone, but more dramatically, convincingly and vividly.
07/10/09
A nerve-wracking thriller with a twisty plot and startling realism.
07/03/09
Top CriticSwinton is mesmerising as a messed-up drunk.
07/02/09
a tonally-consistent, lively thriller that is very much of the filmmaker's own little corner of the world
06/16/09
Latest News for Julia
August 17, 2009:
RT on DVD: From Hannah Montana's Hoedown to Last House on the Left
This week, get your Miley Cyrus fix with Hannah Montana's feature-length trip to the big screen (Hannah Montana The Movie), or do a complete 180-degree turn with the latest... More...
May 11, 2009:
RT Interview: Tilda Swinton on Julia
One of the most diverse and celebrated talents of her generation, the directors on Tilda Swinton's CV represent a veritable who's who of independent cinema and include David... More...
May 07, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Star Trek Is The Best-Reviewed Wide Release of 2009!
This week at the movies, we've got a brand new Enterprise (Star Trek, starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto) and a failed delivery (Next Day Air, starring Donald Faison and... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
RT on YouTube 
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
RT on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
IGN RSS Feeds