79
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Film ThreatPete Vonder HaarFilm ThreatPete Vonder HaarSmartly edited, utterly engrossing, and as intelligent an examination of American race relations as I've seen.
- 90The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisEschewing voice-over or any obvious trace of an on-screen or off-screen presence, she (Brown) lets her images, a little text and other people do the talking for her. Her quiet has its own force.
- An invaluable portrait of us-and-them America, a smart, generous, poignant, quietly disturbing movie about secrecy and hospitality, and how easy it is for a tradition of separateness to flourish when the stakes are as deceptively frivolous as an eye-popping yearly party.
- 88TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghMargaret Brown's documentary is actually an examination of the racial divide in a city that claims there is none.
- 83The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurraySo The Order Of Myths' central question remains tantalizingly unanswered: When a society respects its old-growth trees so much that they let the roots crack the sidewalks, are they being noble or ignorant?
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinBrown explores a potentially enraging subject--rigidly upheld racial segregation in the country's oldest Mardi Gras celebration, in Mobile, Alabama--but her touch is so unforced and her gaze so open that no one is bruised.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterJames GreenbergThe Hollywood ReporterJames GreenbergExotic and thoughtful.
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceQuietly shocking, The Order of Myths is a deft, engrossing cross-section of Mobile life, heavy on local color and insight.
- 70SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirMoving and surprising documentary.
- 60VarietyVarietyOrder of Myths looks good, and its characters are memorable. It's important to know that the "traditions" extolled by both sides of Mobile involve keeping people apart. But it's not clear at all that Brown is bringing them together.