68
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80EmpireHelen O'HaraEmpireHelen O'HaraFlashes of bleak humour makes this wry portrait a compelling experience.
- 75The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyThough the threat of exposure and incarceration lurk behind every story, the characters' ingenuity and humour serve as impudent alternatives to authoritarian stupidity and brutality.
- Will undoubtedly mean a great deal to Romanians who struggled during this dark period, but not much to anyone else.
- 70Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanSardonic as it may be, Tales From the Golden Age is basically affirmative - its true subject is resilience. Romania suffered under a regime of dangerous stupidity. Drawing on popular memory, Mungiu has orchestrated a contribution to local folklore, a suite of stories in which those rendered witless by oppression were compelled by circumstance to live off their wits.
- 70The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenThe strongest tales embrace a strain of barnyard humor that is matched by the robust performances of actors who convey an earthy jocularity. The movie doesn't shy away from comparing these hardy, weather-beaten rustics to their livestock.
- 63New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoThe collection is a mixed bag, although there are no clunkers.
- 50Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerSlant MagazineAndrew SchenkerThe first four of the film's 1980s-set episodes are shorter in length and more anecdotal in nature than the last two and deal primarily with the pageantry and inflexible customs behind the regime with a perspective at once amused and bemused.