65
Metascore
27 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichIt isn't until the story reaches its fancifully abstract final passages, where cinema displaces music as Douglas's weapon of choice, that Chase's reverie reveals itself as a particularly exceptional exploration of how art ceases being an idle hobby and becomes an obsessive vocation.
- 90Village VoiceVillage VoiceIt's a small gem with a killer rock soundtrack, well worth seeking out amid all the awards-season Sturm und Drang.
- 88Slant MagazineJaime N. ChristleySlant MagazineJaime N. ChristleyTriumphs when David Chase's empowerment as a kind of autobiographical historian is balanced with the thrill of submersing the viewer in the tidal pool of his memories
- 83The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayChase deals with the mundane reality that squashes those dreams, but he doesn't downplay the dreams themselves, which he keeps honoring throughout Not Fade Away, right up to an audaciously abstract final scene that rivals the end of "The Sopranos" for sheer nerve.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterThe film may be too meandering for mainstream acceptance, but its focus will make the Paramount Vantage release connect directly with many baby boomers. It's also a warm, funny, poignant scrapbook that evokes a spirit of youth still relatable in later eras.
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversHis (Chase) ardent, acutely observed debut makes him, at 67, a filmmaker to watch.
- 50NPRMark JenkinsNPRMark JenkinsMusic drives the movie, and the producers popped for the real stuff: Robert Johnson, Moby Grape and - curiously - the Sex Pistols are all here. The soundtrack is so overstuffed that it relegates Beatles and Dylan tunes to the end credits.
- 40TimeRichard CorlissTimeRichard CorlissPainful, and not in a good way. A glimpse into the '60s should give us not just the warm bath of recognition but the shock of the new, as least as it felt in days of old. That doesn't happen, in a movie that evokes less empathy than apathy.
- 40New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMood is more important to Not Fade Away than anything, but writer-director David Chase, who turned mood into masterpiece with every season of "The Sopranos," allows nostalgic feeling to be the sole reason for this, his first feature film.