91
Metascore
36 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawPolley tackles painful issues with candour and tact. She has a gripping tale to tell. It's a film that raises questions about the ownership of memory and ownership of narrative.
- 100Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfPolley has gone further into the thorny subject of forgiveness than any of her peers. Her movies ache with ethical quandary; Stories We Tell aches the most.
- 91The PlaylistOliver LytteltonThe PlaylistOliver LytteltonFans of Polley’s work to date will be delighted by a documentary that serves simultaneously as a gripping mystery, a moving record of a family and a fascinating investigation into the nature of truth, memory, and the documentary form itself.
- 90New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSo Polley has gone meta — exuberantly, entertainingly, with all her heart.
- 88Slant MagazineSlant MagazineSarah Polley is much more interested in the malleability of memory and the consequential refractions felt throughout her kin rather than telling a linear narrative.
- This playfully complex and gently slippery analysis of memory and personal narrative manages to engage us in what's essentially the private business, some might even say the dirty laundry, of total strangers.
- 75Film.comAmanda May MeynckeFilm.comAmanda May MeynckeThis funny and touching film could do with a bit of editing. It tends to drag a bit, especially near the end, and though we’re privy to the thoughts and feelings of Polley’s family, we’re given scant verbalized insight into her own thinking.
- 75McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMcClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreIt goes on too long, but this is personal essay filmmaking at its best, one that passes that ultimate test of such self-involved projects. It has a story worth telling.