Locations are beautiful, but it is all rather straightforward and plodding.
Comment
03/27/09
Genova (2008)
77
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:39
Fresh:30
Rotten:9
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: Michael Winterbottom’s tale of grief and mourning, though frustrating in places, is intelligent filmmaking with superb central performances.
Rated: 15
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:27-03-2009
Starring: Hope Davis, Colin Firth, Perla Haney-Jardine, Catherine Keener
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Reviews for Genova
Join up the dots in Michael Winterbottom’s new film and you get the outline of a shaggy dog. But if Genova meanders, it has an ensorcelling, even zodiacal charm.
03/27/09
It is impossible not to admire the fluency and intelligence of Winterbottom's film-making, and his prolific output. Yet Genova is a disappointment, more like a tentative sketch for a movie than the actual finished product.
03/27/09
Top CriticIt can be to mix a strange city with devastating loss. It’s at once a deeply sad film and a deeply truthful and optimistic one.
03/27/09
Top CriticWinterbottom tries to make a modern and meaningful parable. He fails quite miserably.
03/27/09
Top CriticThere's a powerful emotional undertone to this film that overcomes its slightly thin structure and give us plenty to chew on, especially if we've experienced some sort of personal tragedy.
03/28/09
It's an absorbing piece of work, and the entire production's got talent stamped through it like a stick of rock.
03/27/09
As solid as you’d look for from Winterbottom and this cast, but the touches of supernatural thriller in an otherwise rather conventional coming-to-terms-with-bereavement drama aren’t entirely convincing.
03/27/09
Top CriticA tender and touching film.
03/31/09
Beautifully acted and rich in atmosphere, what follows is an intriguing, deeply felt, intelligent exploration of the way family members can find their way back to one another after tragedy threatens to push them apart.
03/27/09
There is a vague sense of unease in the air but this remains a tedious movie in which everything remains unspoken, underdeveloped and annoyingly inconclusive.
03/28/09
Spree killer thrillers, experimental rockumentaries, adaptations of unadaptable books and now supernatural dramas - is there anything Michael Winterbottom cannot do?
03/28/09
Top CriticThis is a much more intimately reflective drama than Winterbottom usually supplies, and it tells us a lot about loss in a dozen small ways. The cast, particularly the children, do the director proud.
03/27/09
Slow pace dilutes the few moments of tension. A genre should have been picked and stuck with.
03/26/09
A film that’s ambiguous, involving and very intelligent indeed.
03/27/09
With a stronger third act and less spiritual flounce this could have been something really special, but as it stands its merely a solid entry in the versatile writer/director's CV that will no doubt be eclipsed by whatever he chooses to do next.
03/28/09
I suspect the director was aiming for a sun-blessed version of Don't Look Now, but his ghost story conjures neither suspense nor intrigue.
03/27/09
This study in grief has a constricted, somewhat calculated feel – it’s missing the torn-from-the-headlines urgency of his best work.
03/27/09
Top CriticAfter his playful turn in Mamma Mia!, Firth cuts an altogether more sombre figure in this thoughtful study of bereavement. With no shock twist or homicidal dwarf up its sleeve, though, Winterbottom’s film seems a little self-defeating.
03/27/09
Part psychodrama, part Italian travelogue, Michael Winterbottom’s latest is the progeny of an A-list film-maker and B-movie material.
03/28/09
More Movies
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 100% | The Red Shoes | 11/12 |
| 88% | Unmade Beds | 11/12 |
| 71% | Where the Wild Things Are | 11/12 |
| 67% | Carriers | 11/12 |
| 40% | The Limits of Control | 11/12 |
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